Hitsugaya's little problem
by swirlheart
Summary: When Hitsugaya has an accident, it's up to Rangiku and a few others to help him out. Why? Because it's not easy taking care of a childish captain. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1 BASH!

I don't own Bleach! Duh!

Hitsugaya sat behind his desk, swamped with paperwork. No matter how much he had gone through, it seemed like there was twice as much to go! He was never going to get out of here and catch a break. At least he was more diligent than his lieutenant Rangiku. She still hadn't returned from her ten minute 'break' which had started two hours ago, leaving Hitsugaya to do all the paperwork by himself.

Another stack was brought in and Hitsugaya did all that was in his power not to bang his head against the desk or attack the deliverer. Halfway through the additional papers, Rangiku finally showed up.

"Afternoon, Captain!" she greeted.

Hitsugaya shot her a look.

"What's the matter?"

"As if you didn't already know," he growled. "I've been working without a break all day and you decided to slack off and leave me to do all the work by myself!"

"Did I really do that?" Rangiku seemed surprised. "Sorry, sir."

Hitsugaya got up from the chair to fetch a book from the bookcase. "Then you won't mind picking up where you left off…" When he looked up from the top shelf, all he saw was the back of her orange head leaving the room. He snarled and took a deep breath. "Matsumo- Whaaa!"

The stool Hitsugaya was standing on began to wobble. He tried to leap off but found that his long black sleeve had snagged on a loose nail, preventing him from doing so. The stool came out from under Hitsugaya and he fell, taking the large bookcase with him.

From halfway down the hall, Rangiku heard a loud crash. She spun around. "That sounded like it came from Hitsugaya's room!" Overcome with concern, she rushed back to the room. "Captain! Are you alright, sir?!" She let out a gasp.

There, laying motionless on the ground beneath the bookcase, was Hitsugaya. She dove to his side and lifted the bookcase off her snowy-haired captain and tried to help him up. His body was limp.

"Captain? Captain Hitsugaya, can you hear me?" His eyes remained closed. She shook him. "Oh, Captain, please wake up! Captain!"

No response. He was out cold.

Rangiku scooped him up in her arms and carried him over to the couch and set him down gently. She called to him again, but still got no answer. She examined his head. He had a huge bump poking up from beneath his white hair.

"Oh, Captain…" she winced. "That looks painful!"

She gently brush the white locks out of his eyes and watched him in silence. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was merely asleep. _Even unconscious, he's just so cute! Oh, but I should go get some ice for that bump. Hey, maybe your bankai could help. It is an ice dragon, isn't it? Ok, so that was a bad joke. Oh, right… you can't even hear me. Oh, yes! And I'm just thinking this in my head…_

"Mmmm… Ungh…"

She blinked and looked down. Hitsugaya was beginning to stir.

"Captain?"

"Huh?" Hitsugaya opened his eyes and looked up at her with unusually big, aqua eyes.

The moment he opened his mouth, Rangiku knew he wasn't the same. Something was very wrong.


	2. Chapter 2 Nicknames

**Chapter 2: Nicknames **

All Ichigo wanted to do was get home and relax. He had the whole house to himself today and wanted to take advantage of it. He opened the door, kicked off his shoes and hurried upstairs. A good afternoon nap and he'd be good to go.

The moment he opened the door to his room, he felt something hit him in the chest.

"Ichi-chan!"

He staggered backwards and looked down in confusion. "Huh? What?!" He looked down at a head of white hair. "Uh, Hitsugaya?"

"Hi, Ichi-chan!" he greeted him with big aqua eyes and a smile a mile wide. "I want a piggyback!" He tried to climb up Ichigo's back, but the taller of the two wouldn't have it. Ichigo pried Hitsugaya off his shoulder and set him down on the floor.

"What the Hell is going on?!"

"Sorry about this, Ichigo," came a voice. He looked up to see Rangiku climbing in through the open window. "We had a little… mishap."

"What kind of mishap?"

"Rangi-chan!" Hitsugaya came rushing over to the woman and threw his arms around her waist.

Before she could answer, another voice came from the hall. "Ichigo, you stupid idiot! I'm telling you, it's only organized if you can _find _what you're looking for! It's not shoving everything in a corner and calling it fixed! And another thing, what's the big idea leaving me at your school, huh? Don't you think for a minute that I'm-" Rukia came bursting through the door and into the bedroom. She stopped her ranting the second she saw the group. "What's going on?"

"Rangiku says that she and Hitsugaya had a mishap and was about to tell me when you showed up."

"Oh," she said. "Go on, then. What happened?"

Rangiku took a deep breath and explained. "You see, earlier today, Captain Hitsugaya and I were working…"

"Somehow I doubt that," Ichigo interrupted.

"… and then I left the room for only a minute. Then I heard a crash from down the hall. And when I came back, I found my Captain unconscious on the floor under a bookcase."

"It fell on top of him?" Rukia asked. "How big was it?"

"Big enough," she answered. "Anyway, when he came to, he was like this." She pointed to Hitsugaya who was currently spinning in a desk chair, making himself dizzy.

Rukia watched him for several minutes before asking, "so… what exactly is wrong with him? Is he ok?"

Rangiku hesitated. "Well, based off his behavior… I've concluded that he…" She mumbled the last few words.

"He's what?"

"He… thinks he's… a toddler."

All heads turned back to Hitsugaya in the spinning chair. It slowed to a stop and he slid out slowly onto the floor, head revolving as the room spun around him. He moaned and gave his head a small shake, trying to gather himself together. Something in the corner caught his eye and he crawled over to it. It was just a roller-skate that got separated from its partner, but in Hitsugaya's childish mind, it was a racecar. He picked up the skate and started to drive it around on the floor, all the while making sound effects.

"Vroom… vroom vroom! Vroom!"

The others just stared at him.

"So…" Ichigo said slowly. "Hitsugaya thinks he's a little kid?"

"That's right."

There was a long phase. Then Ichigo's face started to twitch and let out a snort. Rukia glared at him.

"Uh, could you… excuse me for a minute?" Ichigo asked, trying, apparently, not to breathe.

He opened the door and calmly walked out into the hall and shut the door behind himself. A second later, they could all hear Ichigo's uncontrollable laughter from the other side of the door.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Oh, my G- AH-Hashanah! Oh, man, that's too much! Hahahaha! Hitsugaya thinks he's a- AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

They heard banging as Ichigo pounded his fists against the wall, still laughing his head off.

"He thinks he's a- AH-HAHAHAHA! Oh, God! That's too much! HAHAHAHA! Oh, my ribs! AH-hahaha! Oh, God, it kills! HAHAHAHA…hahahah..! Ha ha…ohh… Man!"

The door opened and Ichigo entered with a more serious look on his face.

"Did you get it all out of your system?" Rukia asked bitterly.

Ichigo looked surprised. "What?"

"Laughing at Hitsugaya's condition like that, you jerk!"

"Oh, come on! You're gonna start something now?!"

"It's not funny!"

"Hitsugaya thinks he's a baby! What part of that isn't funny?!"

"He's not a baby! He just thinks he's a little kid!"

"Yeah! And that's funny as Hell!"

"GUYS!" Rangiku interrupted them. "Can we focus on what to do next? What do we do about my Captain?"

Rukia stopped bickering and observed Hitsugaya still playing with the skate. "Well, where did the bookcase hit him? On the head?"

"Well, he did have a pretty big bump on his head."

"Then that's what cased this," Rukia concluded. "I think it's a form of amnesia."

"But he still knows who we all are. He's just childish is all."

"Right, that's why I said a _form _of amnesia. That bump on the head must have scrambled up his brain into thinking that he's a small child."

Rangiku looked worried. "How do we cure it?"

"I don't think it's a matter of curing anything. Usually with amnesia, the victim has to remember things on their own. Their memory returns over time when something triggers it. But this is different. I'm not sure what to do."

"Should we get Orihime?"

"I don't think she can help with this," Rukia shook her head. "I think it's best if we leave him be and let his memory return on its own. These things take time."

Bored with the skate, Hitsugaya looked up and toddled over to Rangiku. He latched onto her arm and sucked his thumb with his free hand.

Their hearts melted. At that moment, they couldn't see him as the normally stoic captain they all knew, but as a sweet adorable child.

"Aw… hi there, Hitsugaya," Rukia said sweetly.

Hitsugaya looked up at her, still sucking his thumb. She smiled at him and he hid his face bashfully behind Rangiku. That just made him even cuter in their eyes.

"Do you know who I am?"

Hitsugaya peeked out from behind Rangiku's back. "Umm… Ruki-chan," he said shyly.

"Aww! Aren't you the cutest?" she squealed.

He hid his face again, but this time to hide his blush.

Ichigo nodded his head in an approving way. _I think I like him better this way_, he thought.

Suddenly the closet door slid open and out came Kon. "What was with all the yelling before?" He quickly spotted Rangiku's chest. "Oh, thank God you've returned! I knew you couldn't stand us being apart any longer! Come here, bab- what's with him?"

Kon cut his swooning short due to Hitsugaya's expression. He was staring wide-eyed at Kon, thumb still between his teeth. Their staring contest only ended when Hitsugaya uttered one single word.

"Teddy!"

"Huh?!" Kon looked over his shoulder and back up at Hitsugaya. "You- you mean me?!"

"Teddy!" Hitsugaya dove off the couch and made a mad grab for the stuffed lion teddy. Kon jumped out off his reach and tried to scramble up Rukia's skirt. Needless to say she wouldn't have any of that and threw him to the ground. Before Kon could recover, Hitsugaya quickly caught up to the interesting object and picked him up. "Teddy!"

"Stop it! Let me go!" Kon protested and tried to wriggle free. Hitsugaya squeezed him tightly, mushing Kon's face against him.

_Now I know I like him better this way_, Ichigo decided.


	3. Chapter 3 Naps

**Chapter 3: Naps**

"Ok, now he's really starting to hurt me!" Kon screamed still trying to free himself from Hitsugaya's grip. For the past half hour, Hitsugaya had been squeezing the life out of poor Kon. Not only that but he had also been tossed into the air by the childish Hitsugaya. He seemed to be trying to throw Kon higher up each time. This resulted in Kon being slammed against the ceiling repeatedly and falling back down into Hitsugaya's awaiting arms; and the process started all over again. But no one did anything to help him in the slightest.

"Teddy!" Hitsugaya squealed again and hugged him even closer.

Kon gasped for breath. "Please! For the love of God, get him off of me!" Still no one moved. "Come on! This isn't funny anymore! Make him stop!"

Next Hitsugaya grabbed Kon by his head and lifted him into the air. "Wheee!" Hitsugaya cried and dragged Kon through the air by his stuffed head, apparently making him fly. He even did sound effects. "Eeerooom! Eaaarr-ru-ru- errrrm! Whoosh!"

"He really is cute like this…" Rukia sighed. "So what are we gonna do?"

The others looked at her. Hitsugaya had been distracting them from what really needed to get done. Now they had to come up with a plan.

"What did you have in mind?"

Rukia sat back in her chair. "Well… we already established that he's in no condition to return to the Soul Society. And we've also concluded that Orihime can't help us out. This is mental, and Orihime can only heal physical wounds and can't do anything about your mental state, which is why Ichigo's still an idiot."

"Hey!"

"So now it looks like we're back to square one."

They all let out long sighs. Now what?

While they thought, Kon's screams finally started to die down. Hitsugaya was starting to lose interest in the talking, moving toy and wandered around the room in search of something else. He dropped Kon at his feet and wandered about. Kon quickly got up and scrambled to the closet and slammed the door shut. He wasn't coming out anytime soon. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya busied himself with Ichigo's bookcase. He plopped down in front of it and stared at all the books. Curiosity getting the better of him, he started thumbing through the shelves and pulled out random books and threw them on the floor.

Hearing a thumping noise, Ichigo looked up. He spotted Hitsugaya throwing his books on the ground. "Hey, stop that!" He quickly rushed over and pulled a red book from his hands. "What do you think you're doing? You can't just pull my books out and toss them around. I had them in order."

"_You_ organize?" Rukia raise an eyebrow.

"Shut up. A lot of these are school books… Now look what he did to them!"

Ignoring Ichigo completely, Hitsugaya stood up and wondered over to Rangiku.

"What is it?" she asked.

Hitsugaya made several grunting noises as he tried to pull himself up into her lap. He finally succeeded and sat himself down in her lap and sucked his thumb quietly. Rangiku hugged him, unable to resist his cuteness.

"Well, this will have to do until he recovers. He'll have to stay here."

Ichigo looked up from the bookcase. "Stay where?"

"Here."

"Here where?"

"Here, here. Your house."

He stood up and stormed over. "Oh, no, he's not!"

"Oh yes, he is!" Rukia protested. "He has nowhere else to go! He has to stay here!"

"Oh, no, he doesn't! It's bad enough having you stay here without anyone finding out, I don't need two of you!"

"He has no home in this world! How do you expect him to survive? He can't do anything on his own in this state! He needs our help!"

"Why us? Dump him off on Orihime or something! She has plenty of room."

"We can't do that! She not expecting us and she has enough to worry about as it is! We're not doing that!"

"You just want him close by so you can ogle him, that's it, isn't it? You can do what you want but he can't stay here!"

"Well, I say he can!"

"My house, my rules and I say no!"

"I'm in charge of you and I say yes!"

"You're in charge of me?"

"Yeah!"

"Since when?"

"Since ever!"

"He's not staying here and that's final!"

"Oh, come on! You've got plenty of room! Didn't you say that your dad and sisters were gone on a trip together for the next four days?"

Ichigo flinched. She was right. They were and he had the whole house to himself. "Well… yeah, but…"

"So what's the problem? No one's going to bother us. Let him stay here!"

There would be no end to this if he continued the fight. It was best to just give up. He couldn't decline. "Ok, fine. But just how long are we talking?"

"As in..?"

"As in how long's he staying here?"

"I don't know. Until he recovers."

"How long's that gonna take?"

"I don't know. A few hours, days… weeks…"

"Weeks?"

"You can never be sure about these things! They take time and it's random! I couldn't say for sure."

Hitsugaya rested his head against Rangiku's chest and continued sucking his thumb as he watched the two go at it. He couldn't understand what they were arguing about, but it was entertaining. They continued to yell at each other and Hitsugaya continued to watch. His eyes were starting to get a little heavy. He turned around and tugged on Rangiku's sleeve.

She looked down. "What's the matter?"

Rukia stopped their argument to listen to what Hitsugaya had to say.

Hitsugaya rubbed his eyes and gave her a sleepy look. "I want a nap-nap…" he mumbled.

"Awww..!" the girls chorused in unison. That was so cute!

Rangiku patted him on the head. "Ohhh..! You're tired?"

He nodded and stuck him thumb in his mouth again. "'m sweepy…"

"Aww!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. What was so cute about that? So he was a little tired. Big deal. And he was mispronouncing words. Why did girls find that so cute?

Rukia helped Hitsugaya to his feet. "Don't worry. I know just the thing." She pulled back the covers to Ichigo's bed. "There you go. Hope it's comfy."

"Now wait a minute!" Ichigo protested. "Why my bed? Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"For crying out loud, he's just taking a nap. You can wait a couple of hours. It's the middle of the afternoon, anyway."

"Yeah, but still…"

Hitsugaya climbed into bed and sat down. Rangiku tucked him in. But he didn't lay down.

"What is it?"

He looked up at them. "Teddy…"

"Oh!" Rukia turned and faced the closet. "Ok, I'm sure it's in here."

"No, it's not!" Kon called from the back corner of the closet.

Taking pity on Kon for once, Rukia began to dig through Ichigo's closet for a suitable substitute. She tossed several stuffed animals aside until she found one that seemed appropriate. She turned around and presented him with a stuffed blue dragon. "How's this?"

Without a word, Hitsugaya stretched his arms forward to take the toy from her. He immediately hugged it close and laid down.

"Awww!"

The girls knelt by the side of the bed and ogled him with stars in their eyes. He was just too cute!

Now that he had his stuffed companion, they believed that Hitsugaya would finally go to sleep. When he didn't, they grew worried. What could be wrong?

"Nugh..!" he grunted and reached for Rangiku.

She bent down to his level. "What's the matter?"

He puckered his lips. "Kissy."

The girls looked at each other. Then their faces spread into two, twin grins. Hitsugaya wanted a kiss! They squealed in pure joy. Ichigo rolled his eyes and returned to his bookcase. "Now I _know_ that's not him…" he muttered to himself.

Rangiku leaned forward and gave Hitsugaya a peck on the cheek. He smiled happily and turned to Rukia. She giggled at his innocence and gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. He giggled back as if it tickled.

Now he should go to sleep.

He didn't. He just sat there and stared at something across the room. They followed his gaze to none other than Ichigo himself. His eyes remained fixated on him, staring at his back.

As if feeling his gaze, Ichigo turned around. Three pairs of eyes were staring back at him.

"What?"

Hitsugaya looked at him expectantly. "Kissy."

Ichigo flinched. He jumped to his feet. "What?"

"Come on, Ichigo," Rukia said. "He won't sleep until you do."

"Oh, no! That's where I draw the line!"

"Do it!"

"No!"

Hitsugaya pouted. "Pwease?" He stuck out his lip for effect.

Ichigo turned away and folded his arms. Rukia stormed over, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him over to the bed.

"Do it!" she hissed in his ear and shoved him forward.

Ichigo groaned. "You've gotta be-"

"DO IT!" She shoved him onto the floor by the bed.

Ichigo glanced up at Hitsugaya. He looked back at Rukia. "I'm not gonna-"

"Just a quick peck on the cheek isn't gonna kill you! You can even do it on the forehead if you like."

That did sound better than a kiss on the cheek. He reluctantly looked back at Hitsugaya. He smiled back, waiting patiently. Giving a frustrated sigh, Ichigo leaned forward. Hitsugaya presented him with an innocent smile. Swallowing hard, Ichigo moved closer. Holding back vomit and shutting his eyes tight, he gave Hitsugaya a quick kiss on the forehead. He quickly pulled back and wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand.

"Happy?" he asked bitterly.

"Uh-huh!" Hitsugaya chirped.

As Ichigo went to get up he felt a small tug on his sleeve.

"Now what?" he barked, irritated.

Hitsugaya held up the small blue dragon.

"Flamey, too!"

AWW! Isn't he just the cutest? He wanted the dragon to get a kiss, too ^-^

Please review! Hitsugaya's cuteness demands it! XD


	4. Chapter 4 Cutie!

**Chapter 4: Cutie!**

"He can't stay here."

"Ichigo, it's only for a little while."

"You said that it could take weeks!"

"I don't know for sure! It's just a random guess!"

"Shh! You're going to wake him up!" Rangiku waved her arms to get their attention. Rukia and Ichigo immediately stopped.

Hitsugaya had been sleeping peacefully upstairs for the past hour. Allowing him some privacy, Ichigo and the girls remained downstairs to discuss the plan. Unfortunately, there wasn't one. They had already established that Hitsugaya couldn't return to the Soul Society until he had recovered and that he couldn't stay at Ichigo's house for any longer than four days. Ichigo was convinced that the only reason why Rukia wouldn't dump him off on someone like Orihime was because she wanted to fawn over him and his cuteness. She wasn't the only one. Rangiku never wanted to leave his side for a second! She had to be dragged out of the room while Hitsugaya slept so she wouldn't disturb him. Ichigo, on the other hand, seemed to be immune to his cuteness. He just found him to be more trouble than he was worth. He wanted him back at the Soul Society as soon as possible. Hell, he wanted him back there now! Of course, that wasn't a possibility. After all, he was in no condition to fight Hollows or do paperwork. And God help him if someone from his squad found him… or anyone else for that matter. There would be no end to the harassment. No, it was best for him to stay here. Even if he didn't like it…

"Hey, Ichigo," Rangiku called, sticking her head in the fridge. "Got anything to eat?"

Ichigo pulled her back and slammed the door shut. "You can't just go through other people's things without asking!"

"Why not?"

"It's not polite, for starters."

"But I'm hungry."

At that moment, Hitsugaya chose to make his appearance. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him. He toddled very slowly into the room rubbing his eyes and clutching the stuffed blue dragon to his chest. His white hair was an unruly mess and he still had a little bit of drool on the corner of his mouth. He gave a squeaky yawn and returned their gaze with a sleepy smile.

"Awww!"

"Oh, please…" Ichigo rolled his eyes.

Rangiku bent down to his level and smiled back. "Aww, so you're awake, huh?"

He lowered his head bashfully and nodded, pulling the dragon closer to his chest.

_Duh! Of course he's awake_, Ichigo thought. _If he wasn't he wouldn't be down here!_

Rangiku patted him on the head and asked sweetly, "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Hitsugaya hid behind the dragon and nodded his head shyly. Then he took Rangiku's hand and allowed her to lead him over to the table.

Rukia gave a silent squeal and fidgeted at his cuteness. She just couldn't help herself. Ichigo just rolled his eyes again.

Rangiku then asked him what he would like to eat. Hitsugaya just shrugged. So she opened up the fridge and started to list all the things she could find in there. Finally, she held up something that caught her eye. "Would you like some rice balls?" She held up the plastic container.

"Hey!" Ichigo protested. "That's mine! I was going to eat that!"

"Well, you're not eating it now."

"But-"

"Ichigo just let him eat in peace," Rukia told him.

Rangiku placed the open container in front of Hitsugaya and waited. He reached for one and took a small nibble. Then he took a bigger bite, and another one. When he finished off that one, he moved on to another. Rangiku smiled. "Good, isn't it?"

Hitsugaya smiled at her, mouth still full causing his cheeks to puff out like a chipmunk's and chirped, "Yum!"

"AWWW!" the girls squealed together. "Isn't that the cutest?"

"Oh, please! He's the same age he's been for some time! He looks exactly the same! It's mental, not physical, you know?"

The girls ignored him completely. But it was true, Hitsugaya went through no physical changes… Although, his eyes were wider than usual and he did smile a lot more. But still…

Hitsugaya shoved another rice ball into his mouth and chewed. "Mfk pweasf."

"Huh?"

He swallowed. "Milk, please."

Rukia shot up and ran to the fridge, poured him a glass of milk and hurried back to the table, handing it to him. He took it in both hands and drank.

The girls giggled. "Was it good?"

He wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand. "Yummy!"

They squealed again.

"Guys!" Ichigo called. "Back to the thing."

"What thing?"

"The Hitsugaya situation," he reminded them. "He can't stay here for longer than four days and I don't see you guys doing anything g to help him recover any faster."

"There's nothing we can do, really," Rukia said. "He has to do it on his own. We can't just shake him and yell, telling him that he's not a little kid and to snap out of it. It doesn't work that way."

"Well, help him some other way!"

"We can't!"

"But he's…" Ichigo looked over her shoulder. "Where'd he go?"

Rukia turned around. Hitsugaya was nowhere to be found. "We lost him!"

"In his state, there's no telling what kind of trouble he could get himself into!" Rangiku cried.

The group scattered to search for him. He couldn't have gotten too far. Rangiku searched upstairs while Rukia and Ichigo looked downstairs. It wasn't long before Rukia called out from the living room. "I found him!"

Hitsugaya was crouched behind the couch playing with the dragon. Rukia sat down in front of him and spoke in a soft, almost motherly tone to him. "Hi… what are you doing?"

He held up the dragon. "Playing."

"Playing what?"

"Dragon."

"Oh. How do you play?"

He pointed to the couch. "This is the mountains where he can fly and stuff. And this…" he pointed to the carpet. "…is the grass."

"What's that, then?" Rukia pointed to the TV guide on the floor.

"That's the village."

She couldn't help but smile. He was being way too cute. "Then what?"

Hitsugaya held up the dragon. "Then he flies like this." He held the dragon high over his head and had it fly over the TV guide. "Whoosh! Whoosh!" More sound effects. "Then he can breath fire like this. Foosh! Kyaa! Kyaa!" Hisugaya held the dragon over the TV guide and symbolized the fire with his free hand by holding it over the TV guide and wiggling his fingers.

Rukia burst out laughing. She just couldn't help herself. Hitsugaya laughed right along with her. He didn't get the joke, but he laughed anyway in a childish giggle.

Rangiku peered over the back of the couch and laughed, too. He was playing pretend! How cute! She had never seen him so sweet and innocent before.

He jumped to his feet and tried to climb over to back to the couch to get to her. "Rangi-chan!"

"OH! You're so cute! Come here!" Rangiku scooped him up into her arms and gave him a big hug. He giggled and hugged her back.

Ichigo made for the door. "I can't take this. I'm going out."

Hitsugaya suddenly began to squirm about and whined to be put down. "I wanna go, too!"

"What?" _Clearly he doesn't understand what 'I'm leaving to avoid you' means_…

Hitsugaya bounced up and down. "Can I go? Pretty please?"

Who could say 'no' to that? "Ok!" Rangiku smiled. "Let's all go! I've got some shopping to do anyway."

"Yay!" Hitsugaya ran around the room happily. He grabbed Rukia's arm and pulled her over to the door. "Come on! Hurry up!" He then ran behind Rangiku and began to push her over to the door as well. "Come on, Rangi-chan! Hurry, hurry! This way!"

He was just a little ball of energy! He was so excited about going outside.

Once in town, it was impossible to get Hitsugaya to hold still. He was running around, touching everything and looking in all the shop windows. Ichigo couldn't take anymore and decided to go his separate way while the girls trailed after Hitsugaya. Of course they didn't mind that at all.

Suddenly, Hitsugaya came to an abrupt stop in front of a brightly colored store. He pressed his face against the glass and stared slack jawed at what was inside. He was like a kid in a candy store… because that's exactly what it was. A candy store. He gave the girls a longing look and they folded in an instant. They led him inside.

A half hour later, they exited with bags filled with all sorts of candy.

After wondering around for a while Hitsugaya gave Rukia's skirt a small tug. "Ruki-chan…" he whined. "I'm tired."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Ohhh, you want to go home?"

He nodded.

Rukia pulled Rangiku away from a lingerie store and told her that they had to cut their shopping short. They took Hitsugaya home and sat him in front of the TV. Rangiku still wanted to shop. To tell the truth, so did Rukia. There was a beautiful sundress that had caught her eye in a store window and she really wanted to try it on. She looked from Hitsugaya to the door.

Rangiku watched her, waiting. "Well?"

"Well…" She fidgeted. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. After all, he is busy watching TV… Maybe just for a minute, it would be ok to leave. Just for a minute."

Rangiku jumped to her feet and ran out the door. Rukia gave Hitsugaya a quick glance and, deciding that he'd be ok on his own for a minute, left after Rangiku.

It was a good ten minutes before Hitsugaya realized that they were gone. He wondered around the house searching for them. The couldn't find them. He was all alone.

Alone…

He didn't want that. He started to sniffle. Where were they? Why did they leave him all alone like this?

But before he could work up a good cry, he spotted something on the Kitchen table. The shopping bags filled with sweets. Forgetting completely that he was alone, Hitsugaya wondered over to the bags and took out a piece of candy. He unwrapped it and took a bite.


	5. Chapter 5 Sugar rush

**Chapter 5: Sugar rush**

When Ichigo finally returned home, he wanted nothing more than to relax, now more than ever. Hopefully the others were still out of the house so that he could take a well-deserved nap himself. He opened the door and while removing his shoes, he couldn't help but notice a small pair of shoes which looked suspiciously like Hitsugaya's. He groaned. Still here?! Then he realized something. If his shoes were here… then where are the girls'? Were they still out? They left him home alone?

"God, they're so stupid!"

He hurried inside. All seemed calm. That is until he heard a strange thumping noise. He hurried to the living room.

There was Hitsugaya jumping up and down on the couch. Ichigo stormed over to him.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

Hitsugaya continued jumping. "Ichi-chan! Hi, Ichi-chan!" He bounced higher. "Ichi-chan! Ichi-chan! Ichi-chan! Ichi-chan, chan, chan, chan, chan!" He seemed to be trying to speak faster or something.

"Hitsugaya, what's wrong with you?"

"Catch me!"

"Wh- OOF!" Before he could do anything, Hitsugaya had suddenly leapt from the couch and slammed into Ichigo's chest, knocking the wind out of him.

As Ichigo doubled over in pain, Hitsugaya took this opportunity to run off. He tore through the house, uplifting anything that wasn't nailed down as he went.

Ichigo limped over to the kitchen and sat down in a chair. He took several deep breaths, trying to fill his lungs with air again. _What's that kid's problem? He's completely out of control! Why's he acting like this?_

That's when he spotted the candy wrappers littering the floor and table. There must have been at least a few dozen there. Next he spotted the half eaten bag of candy on the table and the untouched shopping bag containing the second half of the girls' purchase. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"Damn those idiots!" he snarled. "What the Hell were they thinking giving him sugar? That guy's crazy now! I'll never get him to calm down."

He stood up to find the sugar-rushing Hitsugaya. That little ball of destruction was loose somewhere in the house.

He could hear a thumping noise coming from overhead. Upstairs! Ichigo ran upstairs to find several pillows and toys strewn across the floor and into the hallway. The trail led into his sister, Yuzu's room.

"Damn it..!" He hurried inside to find Hitsugaya swimming in a pile of toys and stuffed animals. "Get out of there, now!"

Hitsugaya just laughed and dove under the pile. Ichigo stood over the pile and ordered him to get out.

"I mean it, Hitsugaya. Get out of my sister's things right now! Don't make me come in there after you."

No answer.

"You've got 'til the count of three to come out!" _Oh, God, I sound like a parent! _"One… Two… Three!"

Nothing.

"Alright, you asked for it!" Ichigo began to destroy the pile by tossing the toys over his shoulder. He finally made it down to the floor underneath, but no Hitsugaya. Where was he? Damn, he was good.

A crash sounded from the next room. Karin's room. Ichigo hurried next-door to his other sister's room and found her desk laying on its side. Hitsugaya was jumping on her bed giggling like a maniac. He had to stop that hyped up Soul Reaper before he broke anything else.

"Hitsugaya, get down from there this second!"

Once again he was ignored.

Completely frustrated, Ichigo lunged forward. Hitsugaya nimbly jumped over Ichigo's back and landed behind him. As skillful as ever… Ichigo recovered and tried to pounce on him once more. But the smaller of the two dove between Ichigo's legs and scurried under the bed. Giving a frustrated growl, Ichigo bent down and peered under the bed.

"Hitsugaya, I'm not playing with you! I mean it. Get out of my sister's room now!"

He giggled and wedged himself even further under the bed, hiding in the shadows, daring the other to follow. Ichigo stretched his arm out as far as it would go, but he still couldn't reach the sugar-crazed kid. With no other option, Ichigo was forced to crawl under the bed after him.

This, of course, was a problem. Hitsugaya was so much smaller than he was. Ichigo's tall body couldn't fit under the bed the way Hitsugaya's short form could. As luck would have it, half way under the bed, Ichigo got stuck. He wriggled and squirmed about trying to free himself, but it was no use. Seeing this, Hitsugaya took his chance and crawled out from the other side of the bed and scampered out of the room, kicking a soccer ball on his way out. Predictably, it flew through the air and bounced off Ichigo's butt with surprising force and ricocheted off a wall, knocking over a shelf.

"Hey!" Ichigo called. No good. Hitsugaya was already gone. Thinking fast, Ichigo flattened himself against the ground and tried to slide himself out. It worked. Turning his head to the side, Ichigo was free from the dusty underside of the bed and straightened up.

Now where did that ball of sugar-induced energy go? He seemed to be going from room to room… bedrooms… His was next! Ichigo fled the room and hurried down the hall to his bedroom.

He burst into the room and looked around. He was nowhere to be found. He looked at the bed. He bent down and looked under the bed. Empty. He got up and looked at the closet. Hitsugaya had been fussing about Kon earlier… And he was still hiding in the closet. Maybe he was in there…

Ichigo threw open the closet door and dug through the unruly mess. He could hear Kon's muffled cries from the back corner.

"No! Please, no more! Get away!"

"It's me, you idiot."

As Ichigo removed a spare futon, he discovered Kon with his arms up over his head protectively. He lowered his arms recognizing the voice.

"Ichigo?" He looked wildly around. "Is he still here? Where is he?"

"You mean he isn't in here with you?"

"If he were, I'd be screaming my head off."

"Did he come in here?"

Kon shook his head. "No, I didn't hear him. Believe me, I'd know if he was in here."

Ichigo sat back, bewildered. He wasn't in here? Then where was he? Where could he be? The house wasn't that big. But the only other bedroom was…

"Dad's room!" He jumped up and took off like a bat out of Hell, all the while cursing the girls. _Damn them! What the Hell were they thinking?! Leaving him home alone like this and giving him candy on top of it? What the Hell?! And here I thought that Rangiku couldn't stand to be away from him for more than a second. I guess she cares more about 50% off sales than her own captain_…

He burst into the room and looked wildly around. Sure enough, there was Hitsugaya… trying on his father's suits. Currently, he was wearing a tie on his head like a headband, a vest around his ankles and a jacket that was two sizes too big making him look like a dwarf. He turned when Ichigo entered the room. "Dress-up!" he declared cheerfully.

"OUT!" Ichigo barked.

Still thinking that it was a game, Hitsugaya dove into the closet, giggling madly.

Ichigo was about to go in after him when he realized something. Children usually had short attention spans. They couldn't stay focused on anything longer than a few minutes at best. Hitsugaya was no different in this state. All he had to do was find something that would hold his interest for a good amount of time so that he could lure him out and hopefully calm him down. But what? The only thing that seemed to get his attention was…

Snapping his fingers, Ichigo ran back to his room and opened the closet.

"You gotta be kidding! I won't do this!" Kon screamed.

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled back. "It's only for a little while. I just need to get him focused on something so he'll hold still."

"Why does it have to be me?!"

"For reasons I still don't understand, he seems to like you."

"Lucky me…"

Ichigo entered the room again and found Hitsugaya's head poking out of the closet. He giggled and retreated when he saw Ichigo, still convinced that they were playing a game. Ichigo cleared his throat and tried to speak in his best calm, big brother tone. "Oh, Hitsugaya..!" he singsonged. "Look what I got." He held up Kon.

Hitsugaya's face lit up immediately and sprang up. He tried to run forward but ended up tripping over the extra-large clothing. He quickly stripped himself of them and scrambled to his feet and over to Ichigo.

Kon screamed and tried to climb up Ichigo's arm, but at the last second Ichigo pulled Kon out of Hitsugaya's reach, as if protecting him.

"Uh-uh-uh…" he shook his head. "If you want him, you have to follow me out of this room, ok?"

Hitsugaya happily agreed and followed Ichigo back to his room.

Once inside, Ichigo handed over Kon as promised. That's when the torture started all over again. Hitsugaya grabbed Kon and started to squeeze the life out of him. Once again, he made Kon fly by throwing him across them room, throwing him up against the ceiling and catching him on the way back down. He also stuffed Kon into the roller-skate from before and pushed him around the room and into walls. But that wasn't all. He also took Kon by the head and violently scrapped his lion face across the books in Ichigo's bookcase. His button eyes made rhythmic clanking noises as he was dragged across the book bindings.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!" he yelped on contact. "Ichigo, if you care about me at all you'll make him stop!"

Wrong choice of words. Predictably, Ichigo did nothing to help him in the slightest and sat on his bed to watch the show.

"You bastard! When I get my hands on you-" Kon was pulled away again and over to Ichigo's desk. "W-Wait..! What are you doing now?"

Without a word, Hitsugaya led him over to the desk and sat down. He opened the desk drawer and crammed Kon inside, closing it a second later.

Ichigo watched with an amused expression on his face as he watched the drawer rock back and forth with Kon's failed attempts to free himself. He could hear Kon banging against the drawer and his muffled cries for help.

Maybe it was out of pity, but Hitsugaya reached forward and opened the drawer a crack. When Kon's stuffed arm reached for daylight, Hitsugaya suddenly slammed it shut again right on his outstretched arm. His muffled cry echoed off the inside of the drawer.

Ichigo burst out laughing. He was starting to like Hitsugaya a little more than he had a few minutes ago.

This didn't go unnoticed by Hitsugaya. Staring back at the laughing 'adult', Hitsugaya's childish brain could no longer view him as anything but a friendly person. He perceived Ichigo as his playmate. A friend. Not only that, but Ichigo's laughter signaled Hitsugaya to repeat the action that had caused him to laugh in the first place. It encouraged him to do it again.

He opened the door, but this time Kon didn't exit. He was aware that Hitsugaya was still out there and fearful of what would most likely happen again. Nonetheless, Kon's curiosity got the better of him and poked his head out of the drawer. Wrong move. The drawer was slammed shut once more, the edge catching him in the middle of the face. Kon's face was squeezed so tightly that he couldn't open his mouth to scream. But the flailing limps and muffled cries of anguish told the others that he was in severe amount of pain.

Ichigo fell upon the bed in hysterics. _I like this kid more every minute!_

Hitsugaya laughed right along with him, convinced that he had done something good to cause the other such joy. He opened the drawer and picked Kon up by his still throbbing head and made him fly through the air, making sound effects the whole time. Then he got to his feet and stood in front of Ichigo. They stared at each other for a few moments before Hitsugaya finally uttered a single word in a childish, playful tone.

"Catch!"

Ichigo wasn't sure what he meant by that at first, but he got his answer when an airborne Kon came flying at his head. He caught him with ease and returned Hitsugaya's gaze. He held up his arm, waiting for Ichigo to return the toss.

"Oh..! Catch! You want to play catch. I get it… Alright… Catch!" He tossed Kon back to him. Hitsugaya caught him in his chest and threw him back. Ichigo caught him again and threw Kon back to Hitsugaya. Kon continued screaming as he flew through the air and into their grasps. Ichigo just shrugged. At least this was a good way for Hitsugaya to burn off some of that energy in a way that wasn't going to destroy the house. And as an added bonus, Kon was getting all he deserved in Ichigo's opinion. The way he saw it, with Hitsugaya burning off the sugar in his system and Kon being in pain, it was a win-win.

He just had to remember to ask what the girls were thinking when they decided to leave him home alone in that state to go shopping…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Poor Kon… well, maybe not XD

Ichigo's right, what _were_ they thinking?! Read on and find out what gonna happen next! Please review!


	6. Chapter 6 Stories

**Chapter 6: Stories**

Back and forth, back and forth. Ichigo didn't know how long it had been, but he knew that he was still throwing Kon back and forth through the air to Hitsugaya. It had been going on for some time now and he was beginning to wonder if Hitsugaya was getting tired yet.

He appeared to be. Hitsugaya was throwing Kon with less enthusiasm than when they had started. He was beginning to wear down and become sluggish in his movements.

Finally bored of the game, Hitsugaya tossed Kon on the floor and sat down. Wasteing to time, Kon jumped up and half crawled, half limped over to the closet and slammed the door shut behind himself. He scrambled to the far back of the closet and hid behind a spare futon and pillows. He wasn't coming out no matter what. Perhaps not even if Rangiku's top suddenly fell off!

Ichigo looked at Hitsugaya in silence. He couldn't help but notice that the white-haired boy's eyes were starting to droop a little bit. So he was tired after all. The sugar rush was finally over and the debilitating crash was setting in. The destruction had come to an end.

Ichigo slid down from the bed and onto the floor in front of Hitsugaya. "Are you getting tired?"

Hitsugaya rubbed his heavy eyes with a small nod.

That was good news. Ichigo grinned and took Hitsugaya by the hand and helped him onto the bed. "I guess you can take a nap here on my bed for now." _Plus this way I can clean up the mess you left around the house_…

He tucked Hitsugaya in and turned to leave. As soon as his back was turned he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. Hitsugaya was pulling him back. "What?"

"Teddy…" he mumbled.

He could hear a small whimper from the closet. But Hitsugaya shook his head.

"Flamey…"

"Oh, the dragon? Alright hang on. I'll get it for you." He knew exactly where it was. It had been tossed into the air and ended up wedged between the support beams of the railing on the stairs. Ichigo pulled it out and returned to the room, handing it over to Hitsugaya. He hugged it and laid back down on the bed. But as Ichigo tried to leave again, he heard yet another small cry from the Soul Reaper. "What now?"

Hitsugaya whimpered. "Story…"

His eye twitched. "What?"

"Story," he repeated.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. "Do I have to?"

He nodded and waited.

Ichigo sighed in defeat and went over to the bookcase. But none of the books he had would be even remotely interesting to someone in Hitsugaya's state. Most of these were school books. He had a few manga books but they weren't the best reading material for bedtime stories. He looked at other shelves. He found a few novels he had been meaning to finish for some time now, but they were a little too advanced for someone like him. The only other books he had were dramas and horror stories which weren't the best thing to go to bed on. Any children's stories he had had were gone now. He had grown up and outgrew them over the years.

He turned back to the boy on the bed. "I don't have any stories in here for you."

Hitsugaya fidgeted restlessly on the bed. He wouldn't go to sleep without one. "Make one up."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What?!"

"Make it up."

He groaned. "Ugh, I'm not very good at making up stories. I wouldn't know where to begin."

"Try!"

"Once upon a time. The end."

He stuck out his tongue. "That wasn't good! Try again. A real one!"

"Do I have to?"

"Uh-huh!" he bounced, squeezing the dragon even tighter.

Groaning once more, Ichigo dragged himself over to the bed and sat down on the floor next to him. He rubbed the back of his head an tried to think. "Well… what kind of story do you want?"

"A good one!"

"I gathered that… I meant, do you want a story about animals, dragons… princesses?"

Hitsugaya shivered at the word. "Not really." He thought about it for a minute, then jumped up and down. "Oh! Oh! Can it be about a prince instead? OH! And have it exciting, too! I want an adventure! Make it a good one."

Ichigo sighed and told Hitsugaya to lay back down. This was a real pain. He wasn't very good at making things up on the spot and having it be any good. Especially stories. He thought about it for a while then opened his mouth and tried his best. "Ok, uh… Once upon a time… There was a kingdom of princes. They were all assigned princesses to protect. Their job was to rescue a princess, win her heart and ride off into the sunset. But there was one prince who didn't want to do that. He hated going along with the crowd and wanted to be different. He just wanted to find strong opponents and fight them."

He looked down and was surprised to see that Hitsugaya was hanging on his every word. He went on.

"Then one day it was his turn to rescue a princess, but he said no. 'I don't want to' he said. 'I don't want to win the girl. I just want to defeat bad guys.' But they told him that this princess was in grave danger. She was cornered by a large beast with, umm… a bone mask. So he agreed to go, but not for the princess. He wanted to fight the monster."

"Then what happened?"

"Then he left to fight the monster and save the princess. But when he got there he found that the princess was trying to fight off the monster herself."

Hitsugaya gasped wide-eyed and clung to the dragon with both hands.

"But the prince stepped in just in time to protect her. He pulled out this huge sword from his back wrapped in cloth and swung at the monster."

"Did he get him?"

"No. He missed. But the princess was safe."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"But then the princess suddenly slapped the prince in the head and yelled at him. 'I had him right where I wanted him!' she told him. 'Don't get in my way. You don't know what you're doing!' The prince told her that it was his job to fight the monster and her job to stay back and wait. But the princess refused. She jumped up and said, 'But I am princess Ruki… ha. And as Princess Rukiha, I demand that you stop fighting that monster this instant and leave him to me!'"

"That Rukiha sounds like a big mean jerk. She doesn't know what she's doing. She should just let him help. It's his job after all."

Ichigo chuckled. "Now you're getting it. Ha ha..! Where was I? Oh, yeah. Ahem! Anyway, the monster roared and lunged at the princess. But the… devilishly handsome and smart prince jumped in its path and blocked it with his sword."

"Yay, prince! Go get him!" Hitsugaya bounced up and down, cheering.

Ichigo smirked and went on. "But then, the monster swung its huge claws at the prince and sent him flying through the air."

Hitsugaya gasped and lowered himself behind the dragon, using it as a shield.

"So the princess decided to attack the monster herself. She ran up and tried to hit the monster. The monster roared and attacked. Its mighty claws caught her in the chest and threw her though the air. The monster roared again shaking the earth."

"EEK!" Hitsugaya pulled the covers up over his head and hid.

Ichigo smiled. That was rather… cute. He was really getting into the story now.

"But then the awesome prince got to his feet and told the princess to leave the rest to him and stay out of his way. She refused again. But seeing how powerful the monster was, she decided to help him out by giving him some of her power."

Hitsugaya peeked out from under the covers.

"That's right. The princess gave him some of her power, allowing him enough strength to continue fighting. So when the monster attacked again, it only took one blow from the prince's sword to defeat the monster. It fell to the ground, dead."

"Yay, Prince!"

Ichigo smiled. "The princess then thanked the prince for his help. 'You know,' said the prince. 'I'm supposed to take you with me and ride off into the sunset.' The princess turned up her nose. 'I'm no one's prize. Besides, you wouldn't have beaten that thing if it hadn't been for my power. I helped you, you know.' The prince then told the princess that he wasn't like all the other princes. He didn't want to win her heart. He just wanted to fight off bad guys. So the princess agreed to go with him, but only as his helper. Not as his lover. So together they rode off into the distance, looking for more powerful bad guys to fight. And they lived powerfully ever after. The end."

Ichigo slumped against the bed and let out a satisfied sigh. He actually thought that the story wasn't half bad considering that he had made it up on the spot. He thought it would have sucked a lot worse than that. He turned to Hitsugaya to see if he liked the story.

His eyes were closed and he was holding the dragon close to his chest, breathing deeply. He was already asleep.

Ichigo smiled fondly at him. _Once you get used to him, he isn't so bad. He's a lot more tolerable when he's quiet. _He stood up and stretched.

Hitsugaya shifted slighty and yawned. "…good stowy…" he said through a sigh.

Ichigo smiled and patted his head. "Thanks. Good night."

"…ok…" he mumbled and settled back down.

Ichigo, now certain that he was really asleep this time, crept slowly out he door and closed it softly behind himself.

Now on to the mess. The house was in complete disarray thanks to Hitsugaya's sugar rampage. Pillows and toys were everywhere, pictureframes hanging sideways or knocked onto the floor, chairs and his sister's desk laying on their sides and that wasn't even the half of it. Ichigo also couldn't help but notice that he had also decided to fingerpaint with peanut butter along the kitchen walls. This was going to be a long clean-up.

~*~*~

At about seven that night, the girls decided to make their appearance. They came in through the front door carrying all sorts of shopping bags and giggling. Ichigo looked up from cleaning and gave them a death glare. "You..!"

They stopped in the doorway and stared back at him. "What?"

"You gave him sugar?"

"We didn't give it to him. We bought it for him. It was his choice to eat it."

"You gave him sugar…" he hissed through his teeth. "…and then left him home alone? What the HELL were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking that there were sales going on in town and we have money to burn," Rangiku admitted. "What's the big deal? We knew you'd be home soon and the sales weren't going to last forever."

"You mean you left me with a sugar-crazed maniac, hyped up on candy, for a shopping spree?!"

Rangiku shrugged. "He couldn't have been that bad."

"He destroyed my house! It looks like a tornato hit it!"

"Oh, please," Rukia rolled her eyes. "The house is still standing. Where is Hitsugaya by the way?"

"He's upstairs sleeping."

"See? All's fine. You did a good job babysitting for him while we were out."

"That's not the point!"

"Ichigo, don't yell! You'll wake him up!"

"But you're yelling, Rukia!"

"Only because you are!"

Rangiku tried to climb up the stairs, but the two held her back. "Oh, come on! He's so cute when he's asleep. Just one quick peek, please?"

That's when it hit him. "Wait a minute. I thought that he was too cute for you to leave his side for a second."

"He is."

"Then why did you leave him to go shopping?!"

"Because he was watching TV. There's nothing cute about that. He's just sitting there. If he were playing with toys or something, then…" Rangiku held up her bags. "Besides… sales! There was a 70% off sale at the shoe store! I just had to get them! All eighteen pairs!"

"E-eighteen?!"

She smiled and nodded, completely unfazed.

"That kid's a demon! Never let him have sugar again when I'm around!"

"He's asleep now, Ichigo! Keep your voice down!"

"For a 'cute, sweet, adorable kid', he put me through Hell! Just how old's he supposed to be anyway?"

They shrugged. "I thought he should be about three or so…" Rangiku said.

"I would have guessed two, but I could be wrong," thought Rukia.

Ichigo snarled and held up a mop and broom. "The least you can do is help me clean up his mess."

"But we were out shopping all day. We're exhausted. You're doing a great job. You can finish up."

Ichigo stomped his foot on the ground. "I will not! You started this! You help clean it!"

They ignored him and walked to the other side of the house to count their new belongings. Ichigo's eye twitch. Hopefully, this was as worse as it was going to get.

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XD

It's not over yet! Hitsugaya's rampage has just begun! What's in store next? Read and find out!

And don't forget to review!


	7. Chapter 7 Tears

**Chapter 7: Tears**

Hitsugaya basked in the warmth of the bed, his restful repose disturbed only by the sound of birds chirping outside the window. He felt so comfortable laying there wrapped up in soft warm blankets and surrounded by feather soft pillows. He never wanted to get up. He just wanted to sleep and dream.

CRASH!

"Ichigo, you idiot!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!"

"You dropped it!"

"You got in my way!"

"Guys! The baby!"

"He's not a baby! He just thinks he is!"

Hitsugaya poked his head out from under the covers and looked at the door. He could hear people talking. He recognized those voices. His friends. The adults. What were they up to? If they were awake, there must have been something going on. Something interesting.

He had woken up in a good mood. He was feeling happy and frisky. He wanted to see what was going on. He kicked off the covers and leapt out of bed. Wearing a big smile, Hitsugaya made his way happily down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Ichigo and Rukia were grappling over something in their hands by the sink and Rangiku was sitting at the table with her back turned to him. No one saw him come in. That was fine. He wanted to surprise them anyway. He snuck up behind Rangiku and gave her long hair a tug. He ducked behind the chair as she turned.

"Hm." She shrugged it off and went back to watching the two duke it out on the other side of the kitchen.

Since she had dismissed it as nothing, Hitsugaya thought he'd try it again. He poked her in the back and dove under the table. Her body swiveled around in the chair to look over her shoulder. Giggling silently, Hitsugaya grabbed her knee tightly.

"Whaaaow!" she shrieked and jumped out of her seat.

The others turned around. "What is it?"

"Something just grabbed me!"

"Hehehee!" They heard soft giggling coming from under the table. They bent down to have a look. Sure enough, there was Hitsugaya hiding under the table on all fours. "Fooled you!" He giggled. "It's me!"

Rangiku coaxed him out from under the table with a soft smile. "You startled me."

"Sorry." He climbed onto her lap and hugged her.

"Aw, aren't you just the sweetest?!" She rubbed her face against his. "Are you hungry?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Ichigo, get him some food!"

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because you always make such a fuss whenever I go through your things."

"I cleaned his mess last night all by myself. You feed him." He turned his back on them stubbornly.

"Who wants yummies?" Rukia started to walk over with a candy bar.

Ichigo quickly snatched it out of her hand and slammed it on the counter. "Fine, I'll do it!" Ichigo quickly cooked up some eggs and toast and fed it to Hitsugaya. He happily munched down on the slightly burnt eggs while Ichigo had a talk with the girls. "Look, so far you've done nothing to help him get his memory back or take care of him."

"Oh, really?" Rukia said skeptically. "I think we've done plenty."

"You mean like giving him sugar so he'll destroy my house?!"

"Are you still on about that? Get over it."

Suddenly, they heard a whine from behind. Hitsugaya was cringing and giving them all a scared look. "I don't feel so good."

"What's wrong?" Rangiku sat down next to him.

"I feel bad," he whimpered.

That's when the rest of them felt it, too.

"This spiritual pressure… A Hollow?"

Rukia nodded. "I can feel it, too. We have to go."

"Oh, no!" Ichigo hurried after her. "You are not leaving me here alone with him again!"

"Oh, for God's sake! It's only for a minute!"

"But-!"

"This is a Hollow we're talking about!" Rangiku jumped to her feet. "Let's go, Rukia."

"Right."

"But- but- but-!" Too late. They were already out the door. Ichigo slumped into a chair. "Great..! Why couldn't they have left it to me? They could have stayed behind while I took care of it. They just love torturing me, don't they?"

"Nugh! Nugh! Uh!"

Ichigo turned around. Hitsugaya was currently jumping up and down, stretching his arm as far as it would go, trying to reach something on the far corner of the counter. A single candy bar was within an inch of his reach.

"Whoa, no!" Ichigo jumped up and snatched the candy away from him.

Hitsugaya gave him a sad look and followed after him. "But I want it."

"No, you can't have it."

"But I want it!" he whined.

"But I said 'no', and I mean it."

"Please? Just one? Please gimme…"

"Not after the trouble you caused me yesterday. No way."

Hitsugaya frowned and glared at Ichigo. "I want it!" He made a grab for the candy, but Ichigo held it high over his head where it couldn't be reached. "Gimme it!"

"I said 'no'!"

"Gimme!" He jumped again for it.

Ichigo threw it on top of the fridge where Hitsugaya couldn't reach it. And just to be sure, he also hid it behind a few cereal boxes so it was completely out of sight. "There! Now you can't have it."

Hitsugaya pulled on Ichigo's shirt and screamed in his ear. "I want it! I want it! I want it!"

"I don't care! I don't want a repeat of what you put me through yesterday. Not after what happened when you last ate candy. No way."

That's when Hitsugaya did something he never thought he'd see in a million years. He threw himself on the floor and screamed. "I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!" He was throwing a temper tantrum. Ichigo gave his head a wild shake, convinced that his mind was playing tricks on him. But when he looked back, Hitsugaya was still kicking and screaming, demanding his way.

Growing up with two little sisters, Ichigo was well aware of all the tricks children use to get their way. This was one of them. Kick, scream and beg until you get your way. Well, it wasn't going to work on him. No way. No chance. That's how his sisters got away with everything. That, and his father was a sucker for tears.

Ichigo stood over Hitsugaya's flailing body and got tough. "Look, you're not getting it, and that's final! You can kick and scream as much as you want. You're not gonna get it."

Hitsugaya glared at Ichigo and panted. He wasn't done yet. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He wasn't going to give up that easily. Not when there was candy at stake. Hitsugaya then rolled onto his stomach and pounded the kitchen tiles with his fists and kicked the air with his feet. And if that wasn't enough, his demands grew twice as loud as before. "I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!" He took a deep breath before going on. "I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!"

Ichigo covered one ear with his hand and kept the other clenched in a tight fist at his side. This little brat was wearing on his last nerve. But he wasn't giving in. "I don't care! Cry all you want! You're still not gonna get it. You nearly destroyed my house the last time some idiot let you have candy. I'm not going through that again."

This 'adult' wasn't his friend. Forget about the nice laughing man he saw last night. This guy was a big jerk! Hitsugaya's childish mind was convinced of that much. But rather than give up, he started to flail about even more. He kicked, and screamed and pounded the kitchen floor, letting his frustration known without any restraint.

"I want it! I want it! I want it! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! I want it! NOW!"

Ichigo was fed up. This guy was one big headache. Not only that, but he was also punching the ground with great force. He may have thought he was just a little kid, but he still had the strength of a captain. Ichigo feared that he might put a hole through the floor, or crack the tiles and slice his hand open. He had to make him stop. He moved closer to put a stop to this.

One of his flailing legs swung too far and kicked Ichigo right in the shin.

"OW!" Ichigo leapt back, hopping on one foot, nursing his bruised leg.

Hitsugaya's flails slowed to a stop and he looked up. Did he hurt him? Was that his fault? Did he do something bad? But rather than apologize, a new idea popped into his head. Maybe if he did it again, the other man would give in to his demands. After all, no one liked being in pain, so why let him do it? That seemed like a good idea… At the time.

Ichigo glared at Hitsugaya. "Alright, you little brat…" he hissed. "You're not going to get that candy by being a brat or otherwise. And another thing… apologize for hurting me!"

"No!" he shouted defiantly and aimed a swift kick at Ichigo's other leg. It made contact with a sickening THUNK just below the knee.

"YEOW!" Ichigo fell to the cold unyielding kitchen floor with a thud, holding his leg in pain.

Hitsugaya thought he had outsmarted Ichigo, but he was wrong. Very wrong. He had just unleashed his wrath, was what he did.

Ichigo raised his head giving Hitsugaya the nastiest evil glare he could muster. It sent chills down Hitsugaya's spine. That's when he knew that he was in trouble. Giving a frightened squeak, he turned and bolted. But Ichigo managed to grab the back of his shirt with one hand and pulled him back.

"You little brat!" he hollered. "I don't care what Rukia and Rangiku say about you being cute and needing love! You need discipline!" Following up his lecture, he gave Hitsugaya a good smack in the back of the head.

_That oughta teach him!_

Hitsugaya was quiet for a moment. But when the pain finally set in, all Hell broke loose. He raised a hand to the bump on his scalp and his eyes started to fill with tears.

Ichigo huffed in anger and sat on the floor next to him. "You can't always scream and cry to get your way. Learn to listen and don't be such a brat. Unlike those two, I know what I'm doing. I can- Hey, wh… what's wrong with you?"

He peered into Hitsugaya's face. His nose was turning red and he could see the sparkling tears forming in his eyes, dangerously close to their spilling point.

"Hey, hey…" he said, keeping his voice low and soft. "Stop that. Come on, it's not that bad. I didn't even hit you that hard." Truth be told, he didn't. He held back for Hitsugaya's sake. But apparently Hitsugaya didn't know that. Ichigo tried to think of some comforting words to tell him to calm him down but all he could come up with was repeating 'come on' over and over again. "C- come on… It's ok. Come on. Come on, don't cry… Come on."

That's when it happened. Hitsugaya threw back his head and wailed. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" It was a very loud, ear-piercing cry that Ichigo didn't think Hitsugaya was capable of. The tears poured forth, showing no signs of stopping. The more Ichigo tried to comfort him, the more Hitsugaya cried, his screams rising in pitch.

He threw his hands over his ears and tried to shout over him. "It's ok! Calm down! Come on, Hitsugaya! Stop it!"

But shouting wasn't helping. If anything, it only made him cry more. To make matters worse, Ichigo then tried to touch Hitsugaya. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture to calm him down, but the only thing it managed to do was scare him off. Everyone knows that when you just hurt a small child, the last thing they want is to have you coming near them again. And Hitsugaya was no different. He took one look at that hand coming towards him and took off. He bolted straight for the front door.

"No, wait! Stop!" Ichigo couldn't react in time. Hitsugaya was out the door and running toward the street.

Halfway down the sidewalk, Hitsugaya ran into something big and soft. This familiar scent… this black kimono… Rangiku. He looked up into her face. She looked back down at his tear-stained face and red cheeks and nose.

"Hitsugaya, what's wrong? What happened?" she asked, sounding deeply concerned.

The answer he gave her came in the form of another loud cry. He latched onto her black kimono and sobbed uncontrollably into her stomach. She bent down and scooped him up into her arms and rubbed his back in a calming way. He buried his face in her shoulder and wailed, letting out all his frusteration and sadness in deep tear-soaked sobs.

Rukia jumped up next to them wearing the same concerned expression. "What happened? Why is he crying?"

"I don't know. I just found him like this. He was running down the street."

They carried him back into the house and paced around the living room trying to get him to calm down. Rangiku bounced him every now and again and stroked his back in a calming way. He was still crying but not as hysterically as before.

Ichigo walked into the room and tried to reason with the crying child. No good. The second he saw his face, he started up all over again. He flailed about and screamed at the sight of him.

"Ichigo, what did you do to him?!" Rukia snapped, grabbing Ichigo by the ear.

"OW! Nothing! Let go of my ear! OW!"

She twisted it this way and that. "You did something! There's no way he'd get like this if nothing happened." She released his ear and hurried over to Rangiku who was in the process of setting him down him an armchair. "Ohh, what happened, baby?" she asked him in a sweet baby tone of voice.

He babbled something incoherent jumbled with hiccups and sobs. Rangiku and Rukia sat on the floor at his feet and didn't take their eyes off him for a second. They handed him tissue after tissue and cooed nonsense words to him, trying to calm him down. It appeared to be working. His sobs and wails had died down to soft whimpers and whines. Rangiku stroked the side of his face murmuring sympathetically, "Aww… better? Huh? Is you betta?"

Ichigo, who was standing off to the side, rolled his eyes. _Oh, please… More baby talk? Sheesh! He's never going to get any better if you keep treating him like a baby_…

Hitsugaya sniffled and wiped away his tears on the back of his fist. "Sniff… Uh-huh…" he whined.

"Now, tell us what happened? What did that mean ol' Ichigo do to you, widdle sweetheart?"

"'Old'?"

Hitsugaya sniffled again and tried his best to answer amidst his sniffles and occasional sobs. "Well… he- he…sniff! I wanted… I wanted some c- candy… sniff! And he… he… s- sa- said… sniff! N- 'no'!"

"Ohh..? Why?"

"I don- don't know! Then he… he called me a brat and… and punched me in the h- head! Like this!" He demonstrated by hitting himself in topmost back of his head. He sniffled and cried some more.

After 'awwing' sympathetically, the girls rounded on Ichigo. "Why did you do that?!"

Ichigo's head snapped up and frowned. "He was being such a little brat! He wanted the candy after I told him 'no'!"

"So you hit him?!"

"It wasn't even that hard! Look! He doesn't even have a bump!"

"It still doesn't give you the right to beat up little kids!"

"I didn't beat him up!"

His own defense went unheard. The girls were back to showering Hitsugaya with affection. "Oh, poor baby! Poor widdle Hitsugaya!"

Ichigo rested his back against the wall and slid down onto the floor. There was no point in arguing.

The girls did everything in their power to cheer him up. They brought him his blue dragon, tickled him, spoke in baby talk, played with his hair, patted his head, stroked his face and hugged him. Not only that but they also gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Better?"

Hitsugaya rubbed his cheek with a soft smile. "Sniff… A widdle…" Then he got a mischievous look in his eye. "But this cheek still feels a widdle sad…" He pointed to the opposite cheek closest to Rukia.

She smiled and kissed the lonely cheek. "How's that?"

"Better. It's not so sad anymore."

"Oooh! How cute!"

Ichigo's eye twitched. This was making him sick to his stomach. What were the odds of him faking this whole thing to get kisses? No, Hitsugaya wasn't that crafty. He wouldn't stoop this low to get kisses by acting like a small child. Would he? No, he wouldn't. That wasn't his style.

Then the girls each kissed him at the same time, smooshing his cheeks and giving him 'fish lips'. They giggled and he clapped his hands together. "Yay! These are happy cheeks now!"

"Oh, how cute!"

"Oh, how sweet!"

"Oh, how stupid!" Ichigo tried not to gag as he crawled to the side of the wall, hiding himself from view. This was embarrassing! How could they fall for such a pathetic trick? Playing on their emotions like that… Please! It was making him sick to his stomach.

That's when Rukia went into the kitchen and came back to the living room holding something in her hand. "Here you go!"

Hitsugaya took the candy bar from her hand and quickly unwrapped it.

That he couldn't allow. He jumped to his feet. "Hey! I took that away from him! I said he couldn't have it!"

"Well, I say he can! That's what this whole thing was about. You're being totally unfair to this sweet little angel! If he wants candy and he ate all his breakfast, let him have it!"

"But-!"

"One bit's not gonna kill him!"

Hitsugaya munched down happily on his prize giving Ichigo, what appeared to be, a smug look. He got his way.

Ichigo's face turned red with fury. "Forget it!" He turned and stormed off. "I give up! I just do_!" If they want a hyper little brat to take care of, fine! It's their problem now! See if I care! They don't have any idea what they're doing! Being suckered in by a cute face… Tch! He's not that cute, no matter what they say! _

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He's a freaking genius! He sure knows how to play them, right? XD

Find out what happens next. I think it's gonna get better ^-^ But what could be better than this? Read and find out!

Please review!


	8. Chapter 8 Dindin

**Chapter 8: Din-din**

"You could help us, you know!" Rukia shouted from the other room.

Ichigo was sitting on the couch flipping through channels and completely ignoring the two girls trying to make dinner in the kitchen. He had refused to help them out at all after Rukia gave Hitsugaya the candy bar. He had parked himself on the couch and refused to budge even an inch for them. He could be as lazy as he wanted. He had been put through enough.

Though Ichigo was still bitter, Hitsugaya seemed to have gotten over it. Now that he had been given candy and received a lot of attention from the girls, he seemed to be feeling much better. He also seemed to have forgiven Ichigo even though he never did put it into words. Now he was sitting on the floor watching TV with Ichigo.

Ichigo had stopped flipping channels and decided to watch some cartoon show involving a big cat and two small children. Hitsugaya was fascinated by it. He moved closer to the colorful picture box and gave it his undivided attention.

Meanwhile, the girls in the kitchen were having great difficulty making dinner. Nothing seemed to be working out in their favor.

"Do you know how to cook at all?" asked Rangiku.

Rukia shrugged. "Eh, not really. I'm better than Ichigo is, though. He couldn't make toast."

"I heard that!"

"Then come in here and help us out!"

"Forget it! I'm not getting up!"

"Then you won't get dinner!"

"If you wanna eat, you'll cook. It has nothing to do with me."

Rangiku leaned over to whisper something in Rukia's ear. "Why don't we just order in? The World of the Living has so many great places to eat."

"I would, but we spent all our money on shopping. And Ichigo won't give us any money. I don't want his money anyway."

"Oh… I see."

They were trying to make the easiest thing possible that still tasted good and could be considered dinner: pizza. But it wasn't going as planned. Apparently, Rangiku had little cooking experience when it came to making certain foods. She had cooked before, but it wasn't the best in the world. It was edible, which was always good. But she had never made an entire dinner before. And she had never made pizza before, either. Rukia was helping her out, but she also had a limited cooking experience. She could cook, but still… It would have been a whole lot easier if Ichigo would stop sulking and help. Considering the fact that they didn't know where anything was in his kitchen.

Right now, the only thing they were making was a big mess. Flour was everywhere and on everyone. Rukia was still trying to knead the dough and Rangiku was still trying to figure out how not to burn the sauce. It was a much bigger job than they had thought.

Bored with the cartoon, Ichigo flipped through a few more channels. Seeing the colorful cartoon suddenly vanish snapped Hitsugaya out of his TV trance. He closed his open mouth and turned to Ichigo. The orange haired man was still flipping through channels at top speed. Hitsugaya turned back to the TV and watched the channels flash by on the screen. Finally Ichigo decided on a channel and lowered the remote. It was World's Best Car Crashes. Hitsugaya found it interesting at first, but the police sirens were starting to hurt his head. He got up and wondered over to the kitchen to see what the others were up to.

He pulled up a chair and knelt on it to make himself a little taller so that he could see. "Whatcha doing?"

The girls looked up. "Oh, hi, Hitsugaya! Are you getting hungry?"

"A little."

"Don't worry. We're making dinner right now. It'll be ready… soon, I hope."

"Can I help?"

They exchanged looks. "Of course you can!"

"Nice to know that _someone _wants to help us out in our time of need!"

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to!" Rukia turned back to Hitsugaya. "Tell you what, why don't you wash your hands and then you can help us out?"

"Ok!" He skipped off to the sink and washed his hands. Then he returned to the table ready to help. The girls set him up at the table and gave him some dough.

"Knead that, ok?"

"Need it for what?"

Rukia looked at him confused for a moment then realized what had happened. "No, no. Not 'need'. 'Knead'. You knead the dough."

He looked at her puzzled.

"Just pound the heck out of it."

"Ok!" Hitsugaya began beating the dough with his fists, rattling the table in the process.

"He better be careful in there!" Ichigo hollered from the other room "I don't want him breaking anything!"

"He won't! Would you relax?!"

Hitsugaya was doing a very good job. At this rate, they'd be done in half the time. He watched the girls as they sliced up things, stirred pots and tried to wipe the flour off their faces. They looked back at him to see if he needed any help. He smiled back at them proudly, face covered in flour. They giggled at how cute he looked.

Now it was time to stretch the dough out and make it round. That part sounded like fun. Hitsugaya threw the dough up in the air and caught it in both hands. Seeing the approving smiles he was receiving from the two girls, Hitsugaya did it again. He threw it up even higher over his head. Too far. He saw the dough descending upon him at a high speed and ducked his head. The dough landed right on his head and he gave a small yelp on contact. He raised his head, but all he saw was white floury dough in his face. The dough stretched and tore, giving him a peephole to look through. The girls were staring back at him. He cocked his head to the side and the rest of the dough split and fell onto the table.

The girls awed at him as if he had just done something very cute. He smiled back and giggled feeling very good about himself.

They cleaned him off and tried it again. This time, of course, they gave him a rolling pin instead. It working without fail. They poured on the sauce and sprinkled it with cheese. Then Rangiku carefully carried it over to the oven and slid it in. Rukia set the timer and they waited. They handed Hitsugaya a wet towel and asked him to help clean up. He happily agreed. It seemed that he loved doing work because it didn't seem like work at all. It was fun and he was given a lot of attention for it. At last the timer went off and they hurried over to the oven. Rukia held him back while Rangiku took the hot pan out of the oven.

"Is it ready? Is it?" Hitsugaya bounced excitedly.

"Yes, it's ready," Rangiku smiled. He was really too cute like this.

Hitsugaya wriggled from Rukia's grasp and ran into the living room to tell Ichigo. "It's ready! Ichi-chan, it's ready! I cooked din-din! I made it! Oh, and Ruki-chan and Rangi-chan helped, too!"

Ichigo reluctantly rose from the couch and walked, or rather was dragged by the arm by the bubblely Hitsugaya, into the kitchen.

They all sat around the table and Rukia brought the food out already sliced. Ichigo reached for a piece, but got his hand slapped.

"Hey!"

"You didn't help!"

"You didn't help me either!"

"Come on, guys. It's dinnertime. Let's eat." Rangiku took a big slice of pizza and took a bite. "Yum! It's delicious!"

The others set aside their fight and each took a slice. It was pretty good. The sauce turned out better than expected and the crest was nice and crispy. But the only one not eating was Hitsugaya. He stared at the pizza on his plate and exchanged dubious glances at the others.

"Go ahead," Rangiku encouraged. "It's really good. Try some."

He looked back down at the piece of pizza on his plate. He picked it up with both hands. It was warm and a little greasy. It smelled spicy and the cheese was all gooey and sliding off as he held it at an angle. With nothing to lose and an empty belly, Hitsugaya took a test bite. Everyone smiled as his face lit up and took an even bigger bite. He crammed the rest of the slice in his mouth and went back for more.

"Good, isn't it?" Rukia grinned.

"Mmm! Really good! It's yummy!" He gobbled down yet another slice and went back for a third. Was this his first time eating pizza? No one was sure. But the one thing they were sure of was that he was making a mess. The greasy pizza dough and sauce was going everywhere, especially all over Hitsugaya. The sauce was all over his face and hands. He began to play with his food as well, peeling the cheese off and tossing it up into the air seeing if he could catch it in his mouth. It only worked half of the time. The rest of the time it landed near his mouth, on the floor, or in his hair, staining his beautiful white locks. He, however, didn't seem to mind. Not as long as he was having fun.

The girls watched him fondly while Ichigo shot him some dirty looks. He was making such a mess! Isn't anyone going to stop him?

"Uh, guys..?" he asked impatiently. They return his glance with a look of confusion. Did they even know that anything was wrong? "Is someone going to stop him?"

"Stop him from what? Eating?"

"No, making a mess."

"Oh, lighten up. It'll wash."

Hitsugaya now began to finger-paint in the sauce looking rather bored. It became clear to them that he had his fill and was done for the night. Time to clean up.

"Alright, Ichigo," Rukia called. "You're up."

"Up with what?"

"Cleaning."

"No way! I am not cleaning this kitchen!"

"Not the kitchen. Him!" She pointed to a sauce-covered Hitsugaya.

Ichigo's eye twitched. "Say what?"

"He needs a bath," Rukia explained.

Twitch. "No way. You don't mean..? No way! Uh-uh, NO! I won't do it!"

"Come on, Ichigo! We can't do it!"

"Why not?"

"Hello! He's a boy! We're girls! And we're not his mothers so we can't bathe him. It wouldn't be right."

She did have a good point. But Ichigo wasn't about to go out of his way to bathe him. He didn't feel right about it either. He turned his back on them and folded his arms, refusing to move.

"I'll do it," Rangiku said holding up her hand voluntarily.

"No," Rukia declined. "Ichigo will do it."

"Make me!"

"It's your choice, Ichigo. You can wash him if you want, but you don't have to…" She paused as if teasing him. "But I'll remind you that he will be loose in the house so he should be clean so he won't make a bigger mess. That and he's also sleeping in your bed tonight again."

That got his attention.

"So if you don't mind a saucy bed, you'll clean him up."

After a moment's pause Ichigo took Hitsugaya by his slimy hand. "Come on."

He led him up upstairs to the bathroom and closed the door. He groaned and watched Hitsugaya as he licked his messy arms and fingers like a cat. Ichigo held his arms down at his sides to prevent him for continuing. "Stop that and get undressed."

Hitsugaya did as he was told and stripped, tossing his dirty clothes off to the side. He stood there while Ichigo filled the tub with warm water and soap. He shut off the water and turn to the boy.

"Now get in the tub."

Hitsugaya looked at the soapy water curiously. Then a smile crept onto his face. That looked like fun. He backed up as if running away. But then he broke into a run and sprang into the air.

"No!" Ichigo barely had time to jump out of the way as Hitsugaya landed in the tub with a big splash, sending a tidal wave of soapy water rushing towards him. Ichigo was soaked. He glared at the boy in the tub. Hitsugaya was happily splashing about in the water with a big smile on his face, giggling. He looked at Ichigo and started a water fight. He splashed Ichigo in the face.

"Knock it off! I gotta get you clean."

Hitsugaya kept trying to provoke the other by splashing him repeatedly. But soon he realized that it just made Ichigo angry and stopped. He sat quietly in the tub and let Ichigo wash him properly. Ichigo scrubbed Hitsugaya with a warm washcloth and soap. Then he asked Hitsugaya to turn around to that he could wash his hair. He obeyed. Ichigo squirted some lavender shampoo into his hand and lathered his hair. He scrubbed out all the sauce and grease, leaving him smelling of soap and water. He quickly rinsed off Hitsugaya and told him to step out to be dried off.

After Hitsugaya was dry, Ichigo led him out of the steamy bathroom and into the hall. He led him down the hall and into his sister's room. He needed some clothes until his could be washed. Karin seemed like a good fit. She didn't own many dresses and she was close enough to his size. He dug through her dresser drawers until he sound something suitable. He handed Hitsugaya a black shirt and blue pants. It would have to do for now.

Turns out that using the lavender shampoo on Hitsugaya was a good idea. Lavender was very calming and it seemed to be working wonders on him. He yawned sleepily and leaned against Ichigo's body. It was time for bed.

Ichigo led him back to his bedroom and tucked him in. Hitsugaya asked for his dragon and cuddled with it once it was in his hands. He rested his head on the pillow and asked for a kiss goodnight. Ichigo rolled his eyes and gave him a small kiss on the forehead.

Hitsugaya grabbed onto Ichigo's drenched sleeve when he tried to leave. "Wait…"

He sat back down next to the bed. "What is it now?"

Hitsugaya yawned in his face. "Was din-din good?"

Ichigo did a double-take. "Huh?"

"Was it good? I did my best. Was it yummy? Did you like it?"

Ichigo blinked. Did Hitsugaya make dinner to please him? Was he really that proud of his work? Ichigo smiled back and patted his head. "Yeah, I liked it."

"Really?" he asked sleepily. "You mean it?"

"Uh-huh."

"So I did good?"

Ichigo sighed. "Yeah. You really did." He thought about it for a moment then… "And I'm sorry for this morning. I didn't mean to hurt you. Do you forgive me?"

Hitsugaya rubbed his face against the pillow and sighed contentedly. "Uh-huh… You're not a meanie."

"Glad to hear it." Ichigo stood up and made for the door.

"Night-night…"

Ichigo turned, hand on the knob. "Yeah, g'night." Once certain that Hitsugaya was asleep, lulled by the soothing aroma of lavender and water, he closed the door. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all...

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I have spoken!... Typed... whatever...

Anyways, I think I'm going to have a couple other Soul Reapers find out about Hitsugaya's problem. It's a coin toss to see who. The characters? You'll just have to wait and see! XD

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9 Shy

The coin toss has been won! Who sees Hitsugaya first? Read on!

**Chapter 9: Shy**

Ichigo awoke to a sharp pain on his stomach. No, not pain; pressure. There was some strange pressure on his stomach. He tried to roll over but found that he couldn't. Something was holding him down. He threw his arms over his head. Stupid couch… If only Hitsugaya hadn't taken over his bed, then he'd be able to sleep more comfortably. Why was it always him?

The pressure increased.

"Nnnugh! Stop..!" he groaned through a whine. He didn't want to be disturbed, especially in such a painful way. "Go away..!"

He could feel his eyelids being pried open by a pair of fingers. As soon as his blurry vision cleared, all Ichigo could see was a pair of aqua eyes staring back at him. The eyes blinked. "Ichi-chan?" called a familiar voice. "Are you awake?"

Ichigo pulled away and turned his head away with a loud groan. "Oh! Stop that, Hitsugaya! Ugh!" He rubbed his eyes. Even this early, Hitsugaya was still annoying. When would this all be over? It was getting tiresome.

He could feel Hitsugaya bouncing on his chest in another attempt to rouse him. "Hey! It's morning, Ichi-chan! Wake up!" Bounce, bounce, bounce.

"Uh! Uh! Uh!" His whole body lurched with each bounce. "Alright, alright! I'm up! I'm up!"

"Yay!" Hitsugaya jumped off Ichigo's chest and ran into the other room. "Ichi-chan's up! I got him up, just like you said! He's up! He's up!"

Ichigo sat up rubbing his throbbing head. Was that Rukia's idea? This wasn't turning out to be a very pleasant morning… He got off the couch and staggered into the kitchen. "What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"9:58."

He looked up, surprised. "That late? I thought it was much earlier than that." He sat down and waited for breakfast.

Hitsugaya, of course, was served first. He quickly wolfed down his cereal and milk while Ichigo was served the same thing only in a smaller portion. Well, at least he got food…

After breakfast, the group went into the living room to watch TV. Hitsugaya had control of the remote and had decided on cartoons. Typical. It looked as if it were going to be a peaceful morning after all. Or so it seemed. Halfway through the program, Hitsugaya gave a small whimper and climbed onto the couch and buried his face in Rangiku's chest.

She patted his head and gave him her undivided attention. "Oh, what's wrong?" she asked in a soft tone.

He sniffled and whined again. "I… I feel bad again…"

They looked at each other. That's when they felt it, too. A powerful spiritual pressure. And it was close.

"It's a Hollow alright," Rukia stood up. "We have to take care of it."

"I'll go," volunteered Ichigo. "You two can stay here and take care of Hitsugaya."

"I think you better let me handle this," said Rukia.

"But… you can't handle it on your own! I'll take care of it. You stay here and watch him."

"Oh, please! I still have plenty of power even without a sword. Let me handle it!"

That opened up the daily argument. While the two bickered over who should go and stay behind, Hitsugaya was beginning to sniffle and cry. He didn't like this strange feeling. It was very upsetting. He clung to Rangiku for dear life, seeking comfort.

Rangiku hugged him back and stood up. It was time to take charge. "Forget it. I'll go." Rangiku made for the door, but Hitsugaya held her back.

"No! Don't go!" he cried. "I don't want you to leave! Rangi-chan stay here!"

She was torn. Should she leave or stay behind to comfort Hitsugaya? What was the right choice?

Meanwhile, however, Ichigo and Rukia were shouting each other out of the door. They were both standing in the doorway when something popped into Ichigo's mind.

"Wait! I've got an idea!" He looked at the white-haired boy. "Hitsugaya will come along, too."

Everyone's jaw dropped at this. Then…

"Are you insane?!" screeched Rukia. "You can't take him out there! What would make you say something that stupid?"

"Look, nothing else we're doing seems to be working," Ichigo tried to explain. "He still thinks he's a kid because we treat him like one. And didn't you just say the other night that something has to jog his memory back to normal? Well, what if we took him out to fight a Hollow? Maybe seeing one would jog his memory and he'll remember how to fight. Then that will hopefully trigger some other memories to come back, too."

"…" Rukia blinked at him. "That… has got to be… the STUPIDEST thing I've ever heard!"

"It's worth a shot!"

"You'll get him killed! Or shock him so bad he'll end up in a psychiatric hospital! Have you thought about his metal health at all? Putting him up against a Hollow in this state could cause him serious trauma.. And in more ways than one!"

"Well, at least I'm trying to think of something other than cuddling him all the time!"

"We don't cuddle him all the time!"

"Yes, you do!"

Another loud crash sounded from outside and the argument ceased. The Hollow was getting closer by the second and standing here yelling at each other wasn't solving anything. They had to settle this now. Rukia and Ichigo bolted out the door and into the street.

But Rangiku was still torn. At the rate they were going it seemed like another fight would soon break out between them. A better solution seemed to be if Rangiku went after it herself and killed it in one blow. Being a lieutenant and all, Hollows didn't stand a chance. She may as well finish this up quickly. She bent down and hugged Hitsugaya. "I'm only going to be a minute," she told him. "Just stay here and I promise I'll be back. I have to take care of something."

"No!" Hitsugaya whined. "They left to do it! Rangi-chan stay here!"

"But it'll take longer if I don't go to help them out."

"No! Don't go!" Hitsugaya clung to her black kimono. "Please don't go..!"

She had no choice but to resort to _that_ trick. She pointed over his shoulder. "What's that?!"

Hitsugaya spun around to look. Nothing was there. When he turned back around, Rangiku was nowhere in sight and the door was wide open. He sat on the ground and sniffled. Why did she have to go and leave him behind? He didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay with him. He couldn't stand it. Hitsugaya jumped to his feet and ran out the door after her.

Just as Rangiku had predicted, the two were at it again. Ichigo kept insisting that Hitsugaya should be there to witness the battle while Rukia kept telling him that he was wrong and stupid for even thinking such a thing. They were also arguing over who would get to fight the Hollow. Rukia had a clear shot at it, but Ichigo told, or rather yelled at her, that he had a better target and should take it. The result? They both hit the Hollow at the same time and were both sent flying by the other attack's blowback.

"Stand back! I've got this!" Ichigo shouted, raising his sword.

Rukia rushed past him. Even if she didn't have all her Soul Reaper power back just yet, she could still fight. This Hollow was nothing. "No. You stay out of my way and let me handle this. I can do it."

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn and selfish?! I can handle it! It's half dead already!"

"Oh, so I should let you have the easy part?"

"It's not that!"

"Look out!" Rangiku rushed into action. The Hollow was getting to its feet. "Growl H- huh?"

Something flashed by overhead. That's when they heard a familiar voice cry…

"Extend… Hōzukimaru!"

A loud roar rang out as the Hollow was sliced in half by what appeared to be a large staff and blade. The Hollow vanished and the victor stood proudly in the street, catching the light off his bald head.

"Whoo! That was great! But come on! That thing shoulda been way tougher than that! I didn't even break a sweat!"

Another figure stepped out from behind a building. "I wish you would let me handle these things once in a while. I haven't had any action in a long time."

"Ah, come off it, Yumichika! That thing was super weak anyway!" Ikkaku turned to the others. "I'm surprised it took you so long to kill the damn thing."

"I could have if _somebody_ let me at the thing!" Ichigo's eyes rested squarely on Rukia. She glared back at him, fists clenched.

"What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

Ikkaku stood back to let Yumichika answer for him. "We were sent here for two main reasons. The first one involves the Hollow you just saw. We were sent to kill it. Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to number two. .. Which actually relates to you, Rangiku."

She looked surprised. "Oh?"

"Yes, it seems that Captain Hitsugaya went missing without telling anyone. The whole Tenth Division is out looking for him now. We were sent by our captain to the World of the Living to see if he was here while the others searched the Soul Society."

"Oh, I see." Rangiku scratched the back of her head. "Seems we had a little mix up…"

"Mix up?" Yumichika inquired. "Didn't you ask to leave..? Or better yet, did you even inform anyone that you were going to the World of the Living?"

She blinked. "I guess not."

Ikkaku slapped his hairless forehead. "Great! You had everyone worried and here you are! God, could you be any ditzier?"

"Ditsy?"

"You heard me! The only plus side to this whole thing is that we got to fight a Hollow… and not a very good one at that."

"Rangi-chan!"

Yumichika looked around. "What was that?"

"Oh, no…"

Hitsugaya was running towards the group at top speed, screaming her name. "Rangi-chan! Rangi-chaaaan!" He jumped the last few steps and pile-drived her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her stomach. Rangiku tried to pull him off, but to no avail. He had latched onto her black kimono and refused to let go for anything.

She bent down and patted his head. "Hey, hey… What's wrong?" she whispered softly.

He sniffled and hiccupped. "I didn't want you to leave. Rangi-chan, never leave again! Stay with me! Stay!"

She shushed him and stroked his head in a comforting way. She had no idea that Hitsugaya would be this upset at her leaving for a moment. Maybe it wasn't so much that as it was the fact that she had left in his time of need. He was upset due to the presence of the Hollow and needed comfort, but he didn't get it and instead his only source of comfort was running out the door. He must have felt abandoned. Rangiku tried to make it better by comforting him now. She hugged and kissed his forehead and stroked his face. He calmed considerably and rested his head against her breasts, sucking his thumb.

Someone cleared their throat and Rangiku glanced up. Ikkaku and Yumichika were staring at the strange behavior from the small captain with very confused expressions.

"Uh… What is he doing?"

Rangiku stood up, Hitsugaya still clinging to her kimono with one hand. "This is why we left." She paused before going on. "You see, earlier, Hitsugaya was doing some paper work and… a bookcase sort of fell on him…"

"Sort of?"

"Ok, it did fall on him. Anyway, it landed on his head and knocked him out. When he came to, he was like this."

The two Soul Reapers looked down at him. "Which is..?"

"It seems that the crash scrambled up his mind and… now he thinks he's a toddler."

Hitsugaya looked up at the two men. They were staring at him. His face grew warm and he stepped behind Rangiku, hiding from their gaze.

Ikkaku snorted.

Hitsugaya sucked his thumb.

"So…" Ikkaku managed before another snort came out. "So… you mean to tell us that… he, Captain Hitsugaya, Mr. No-childish-things-for-me-thanks… thinks he's a… toddler?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's right."

With another snort, Ikkaku's whole body lurched forward. He clasped a hand to his mouth, but it was no use. He couldn't control his laughter. He threw back his head and laughed. Yumichika joined in not a moment later.

"WAH-Hahahahahahahahahaha! So he thinks… with the..? And the..? Oh, man, that's good! AH-hahahahahahhahahaha!"

"Now the thinks..? He's a… a..? Oh. God, that's just too much! Hahahahahahaha! My ribs are killing me!"

"Hahahahaha! Hitsugaya thinks he's..?! Oh! OH, my GOD! AH-hahahahaha! You gotta be kiddin' me! AH-hahahaha!"

"I never thought I'd live to see this day! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

They had to prop themselves up against each other from laughing so hard. This was by far the funniest thing they had ever seen. They looked back down at Hitsugaya. When they saw him sucking his thumb, they laughed even harder. Imagining something like this was one thing, but to actually see it in person was another thing entirely.

"Alright, that's enough!" Rukia scolded them. "Don't laugh at his condition! This is serious!"

"Yeah, seriously funny!" Ikkaku laughed again.

Yumichika leaned against him for support, wiping away some tears. "Beautiful… Just beautiful..!"

"It's not funny!"

"Oh, yes it is!" Ikkaku was rolling around on the ground, kicking his legs in the air.

Hitsugaya peered out from behind Rangiku to see what was so funny. The two new men were laughing at something. What could be so funny to make them laugh so hard like that? Hitsugaya was curious. But when the two looked back down at him, his shyness got the better of him and he hid behind Rangiku once again.

"What's with him?"

"He's just a little shy," Rangiku explained. She patted Hitsugaya's head.

Ikkaku's lip quivered. Rukia shot him another look.

Hitsugaya peered out from behind her again, so that only the left side of his face was visible. Upon seeing Ikkaku's face, he gave a small squeak and buried his face in Rangiku's back.

"Don't be coy. We don't bite," Yumichika assured.

Hitsugaya gave him a second-long glance before returning his face to the kimono.

"Does he even know who we are?" Yumichika asked.

"I'm sure he does. Asked him."

Taking Rangiku's advice, he bent down. "Hitsugaya, do you know who I am?"

He poked his head out and looked him in the eyes. "Chika-chan," he murmured before going back into hiding.

He looked at the others, puzzled. "Uh… Chika-chan?"

"He gives everyone nicknames," Rukia explained. "He calls me Ruki-chan."

"Oh."

Ikkaku laughed. "Ha! You're Chika-chan!"

"I thought it would be something more like Yumi-chan or something like that…" Ichigo said thoughtfully.

Ikkaku chuckled devilishly. "My turn, my turn. Hey, Hitsugaya, what's my name?"

Hitsugaya was ushered forward by Rangiku's hand. He was now face to face with Ikkaku. He looked into Ikkaku's scary face and whimpered. Sniffling, he retreated back to the safety of Rangiku's kimono and hid his face.

"What's the matter with him?"

"I think he finds you a bit scary…"

"Scary? How am I scary to the little brat?"

Rangiku ignored him and bent down to Hitsugaya's level. "Hitsugaya, do you know that man there?"

He rubbed his eye with his free hand and sucked the thumb of the other. Keeping one hand on Rangiku, Hitsugaya blinked at Ikkaku. But he wasn't looking at his face. He was looking just past the eyebrows. Smiling with a thumb in his mouth, he nodded.

"Ha! I knew he knew me!"

He pointed at Ikkaku and chirped, "Baldy!"

Ikkaku's face dropped and stared back at the little captain.

Yumichika snorted and covered his mouth.

"He definitely knows you…" Ichigo smirked.

"Wh… what did you call me?"

"Baldy!" No 'chan' no nothing. Just baldy.

The others burst out laughing.

"I hate this kid…"

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Who saw that coming?

Yes, I like those two... a lot... Come on! Baldy and Beauty-guy make everything fun! You gotta love 'em.

I'm not stoping here. More people are going to find out about this. Read to find out. And please review! I live for nice reviews! XD


	10. Chapter 10 FYI

**Chapter 10: FYI**

After making it back to the house, the group decided that it was time to discuss what was going to happen with Hitsugaya. At least, that was the plan. Turns out that none of them had carried it out. Instead everyone sat on the floor surrounding the white-haired captain lavishing him with attention. Right now Ikkaku and Yumichika were trying to make him laugh. It wasn't working for Ikkaku, however. Hitsugaya just found him and his murderous expression scary. Yumichika was having more luck, though. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and pulled his cheeks out, making a funny face. Hitsugaya, who was sitting in Rangiku's lap burst out in a giggle fit. Yumichika sat back proudly. He had succeeded.

"Why does he find you so hilarious?" Ikkaku asked bitterly.

"Maybe I'm just good with children."

"Maybe you're just funny-looking..."

He turned to Ikkaku. "Or maybe you're just scary."

"Scary? Me?"

"Perhaps it's your face."

"What's wrong with my face?"

Ichigo coughed and turned the other way.

Ikkaku went back to the task at hand. He tried making faces too, but it only frightened Hitsugaya more. He gave Ikkaku a teary-eyed expression and whimpered.

"Rangi-chan…" he tugged on her sleeve. "Baldy scary."

She covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Ikkaku looked even more murderous than usual.

Yumichika leaned in Hitsugaya's face and locked eyes with him. Their staring contest ended when Yumichika began rolling his eyes at a fast pace. Hitsugaya broke out into giggles once again. Those spinning eyes were funny.

Ikkaku frowned. Why was he getting all the laughs? He had to try harder. But he was never any good with kids for some strange reason. He tried imitating Yumichika by stretching his face out. That didn't work either. It just sent Hitsugaya cowering.

"Try being less scary," Yumichika advised.

"I don't know how I'm being scary in the first place." Ikkaku sat back and tapped his chin thoughtfully. How to make him laugh? How? What would work? Finally he had an idea. Keeping his voice a little calmer, Ikkaku spoke to the young captain. "Hey, Hitsugaya…" When the captain turned at his name, Ikkaku struck. He lunged forward and spidered his fingers over Hitsugaya's tummy. Hitsugaya squealed and flailed about at the tickling sensation. "Ha! I knew I could make him laugh!"

The others laughed along with Hitsugaya as Ikkaku tickled his stomach and neck.

"Oh, man, this is great! Somebody get a camera."

"Oh, no!"

Everyone turned at Rangiku's sudden outburst.

"What? What?!"

"I can't believe it! Oh, I'm so stupid!" She slapped her forehead. "A camera! Why didn't I think of that? I'm so stupid! Stupid! Ichigo, you wouldn't happen to have a-"

"No!"

"Don't worry, I got one." Rukia held up a camera she bought from the store the other day.

"Gimme!" Rangiku lunged, but Rukia held it out of her reach.

"Don't worry. I already took some pictures when no one was looking. I always carry it around!"

"So you..?"

"Yup! I took a few of him sleeping, a couple of him sucking his thumb, holding his dragon. And even a picture of him making dinner last night. I pulled it out and slipped it away before anyone noticed."

"Oh, you're good."

The conversation ended when a strange noise caught their attention. It was like a falsetto voice speaking in baby-talk. Their heads swiveled about to see Ikkaku tickling Hitsugaya and talking in a high-pitched voice while uttering a bunch of nonsense words.

"Who's a good baby? Who's a good widdle baby boy? You are! Yes, you are! Yes, you widdle-iddy-biddy bubaa-wubba-bubba-ba-ba-boo chu-choo! De-dee-da-dabu-da? Wubba-wubba-woo!" He glanced up at the others. "What?"

"Nothing."

Yumichika raised an eyebrow. "I've just never heard you sound like that before."

"Like what? I'm talkin' to a baby. How else am I supposed to sound?"

Yumichika shrugged and turned away.

"He's not a baby. He just thinks he's a toddler."

"Whatever." Ikkaku went back to tickling him. "I think I like him better this way… When's he changing back to normal?"

"We don't know."

Yumichika turned around. "You don't know? He can't stay like this forever, you know."

"That much we know, but he hasn't shown any signs of returning to normal, and Rukia thinks that it's only temporary and he'll regain his memories in time."

"How much time are we talking?"

All eyes fell on Rukia. She gave a small shrug. "Uh… About a few days… Weeks?"

"So you don't know for sure?"

She shook her head.

Yumichika sat down on the couch. "Well, this sucks… We were sent to find him and bring him back if possible."

"He can't return to the Soul Society like this!"

"Why not?"

"Have you thought about what would happen to him if you do? Hitsugaya thinks he's a toddler. If he returns in this state, he'll be a laughingstock! Can you imagine what would happen if someone like Ukitake or even Gin got a load of him?"

A mischievous smile crept across Ikkaku's face at the metal image. "Heh-heh..!"

"Not funny!"

Yumichika seemed to agree with Ikkaku's view, though. "Actually… I'd love to see the look on Ukitake's face if he saw him like this… That _would_ be something."

"Get you're shoes on, Hitsugaya," Ichigo called from the door. "You're going back."

"Stop joking around, Ichigo!" Rukia hollered back.

"Who said I was joking?"

While all this was going on, Hitsugaya was trying to make himself more comfortable in Rangiku's lap. He shifted this way and that until he was nice and cozy and closed his eyes, sucking his thumb.

Rangiku shifted the bundle in her lap trying to rouse him. "Hey, hey… What are you doing, silly?"

He rubbed his eyes tiredly and said through a small yawn, "I'm sleepy."

Rangiku looked at the clock. "It's barely the afternoon."

Nonetheless, he rested his head against her chest and went back to sucking his thumb. She rubbed his back and rocked him slowly from side to side. If he wanted a nap, he wanted a nap. There was nothing she could do about it. He seemed to want to take a lot of naps now than he did before in his right state of mind. Maybe, judging from all the long hours he put into his work and the many sleepless nights at the Soul Society, he was making up for it now. Soon the rocking had done its job and Hitsugaya was out like a light.

"Alright, alright. He can't stay here forever. I say we get an expert's opinion."

Rangiku looked up. "Expert?"

"Why not?" asked Yumichika. "You want him back to normal right?"

The girls exchanged glances. "Well…"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "As cute as he is now, you know he can't stay like this forever."

"I know but…" Rukia trailed off. She knew he was right and there were no room for 'buts'. The fact was that Hitsugaya needed to return to normal. If the Soul Society was out looking for him then they needed to fix him up, fast. He couldn't return in this state. He couldn't fight, he couldn't work, everyone would have a feild day... It would just cause more trouble. "Alright. Who's this expert?"

Yumichika got to his feet. "Follow me and find out."

Rangiku shifted her captain in an attempt to wake him. "Hitsugaya, sir…" She shook his shoulder. "Wake up."

He merely rubbed his face against her chest and continued to snooze. He didn't want to wake up. So she shook him harder. He frowned and cracked open an eye.

"We have to go."

"Nugh..! Where?" he asked sleepily.

"We're going to find someone to help us out," she whispered softly.

But Hitsugaya wrapped an arm around her neck and hid his face under her arm. "No..! Don't wanna..!" He still wanted to finish sleeping. When Rangiku rubbed his back in another attempt to rouse him, he whined again. "No..!"

"Just carry him!" Ikkaku called from the door. "He doesn't have to be awake until we get there."

"Ok." Rangiku then lifted Hitsugaya's listless body up over her shoulder. Hitsugaya wrapped his arms around her neck for support and went back to sleep.

The long walk turned out to be more than Rangiku had bargained for. Hitsugaya was getting heavy and was starting to slip. She had to ask for help from Rukia when Hitsugaya's body slipped even further. With Rukia's help, they managed to place Hitsugaya on Rangiku's back and carried him piggyback style down the street. Hitsugaya drooled on her shoulder and sucked his thumb peacefully.

Finally they arrived in front of a small shop that looked very familiar.

"Are you kidding me?" Ichigo groaned. "Kisuke? Come on."

Yumichika raised a feathery brow. "Do you have any better ideas?"

Ichigo said nothing.

They walked up the path and knocked on the wooden doors. They slid open to reveal the very person they came to see. Kisuke leaned against the doorframe, lollipop in hand.

"Well, well, well… Didn't expect you to be stopping by like this."

"We have a little problem and these two thought that you could help us." Rukia cut right to the chase.

Kisuke stepped outside and looked from one person to another. "Well, what seems to be the problem here?"

All fingers pointed to the bundle on Rangiku's back. Kisuke stepped forward and peered at his slumbering face. "What's up with him?"

"He got hit in the head."

Kisuke brushed a stray lock from Hitsugaya's face. "So he's out cold?"

"No, not now. He was. But the bash seems to have knocked some sense out of him and as a result he thinks he's a little kid."

"How little?"

"A toddler."

Kisuke snorted.

"It's not funny! What's with you guys? Can't you be even a little concerned for him at all?"

Stifling a chuckle, Kisuke tapped Hitsugaya on the head. He rubbed his face against Rangiku's back and gave a sleepy moan. He blinked and blinked again. They weren't walking anymore. He turned his head to the left and found himself face-to-face with a strange looking man in a funny hat. The man smiled and waved at him. He gave a small squeak of fright and hid his face from view. Kisuke chuckled. "I like him! Come on in."

They all sat around at small table in the back room and were served some hot tea.

"I just made it."

"Yeah, yeah. Can we move on?"

Kisuke set his cup down and smiled at Hitsugaya, completely ignoring Ichigo. Hitsugaya hid shyly in Rangiku's arms, unsure of this new stranger.

But Kisuke knew just how to handle kids. "Hey, little guy. Want a lollipop?" He held up a pink lollipop with a swirl in the middle.

That got his attention. Forgetting his shyness, Hitsugaya leapt for the sweet treat.

"That kid's gonna be bouncing off the walls thanks to these guys…" Ichigo muttered under his breath.

Hitsugaya took the fist-sized lollipop in both hands and gave it a test lick. "Mmm! It tastes like watermelon!" He popped it in his mouth and sucked on it greedily.

Kisuke grinned with satisfaction and turned to the rest of the group. "While he's distracted, we can talk in peace. So what can I do for ya?"

They told him the whole story. The moment of the accident, his behavior; everything up to this point.

"Do you know how to solve this problem?"

"Sure! Stop hitting kids in the head with bookcases."

"Not that! How do we cure him?"

Kisuke leaned back and thought. "Well… from what you just told me… I'd say that his injury wasn't that bad. If he was only out for a few seconds… and if the bump was gone… Hmm… I'd say you'd better let nature take its course. Just give him some space and he'll be fine."

"What about them babying him?"

"I don't think that would complicate things, Ichigo. I doubt if that would keep him in this state any longer than he would if he received no childish-attention at all. It doesn't really matter. But the idea of putting him up against a Hollow in order to regain his memory I would have to agree is pretty stupid."

"Ha! I told you!"

"Well, at the time-!"

"Alright, alright. Settle down."

"But is there anything we can do to speed this up?"

Kisuke shrugged. "I don't think you can. Trying to speed this type of thing up would probably do more harm than good. I'd say it's best to just leave it alone. He'll come back to himself in time. You'll see."

Click!

Rukia turned, camera in hand. "Sorry. He's just so cute."

Truth be told, he was. Hitsugaya was nothing short of adorable, the way he held the lollipop in his hand and looked around the room absentmindedly with those big aqua eyes. He seemed to be quite enjoying that lollipop.

Ichigo, however wasn't enjoying himself at all. Once again nothing was solved and everyone discovered what a big idiot he was for having his own ideas. Great…

"If this lasts for any longer than two days, we need to find him another place to stay. He can't stay at my house, you know. We've been through this."

"Don't worry about it! He can stay here," Kisuke offered. "I don't mind. We got plenty of room for the little guy."

"But you can't expect him to work. Not in this state," Rukia warned. "He's too young for that sort of thing."

"Don't worry, I know that. He'll be fine. I've taken it all into account."

"Somehow I don't that since you've only just found out about this now."

"Trust me! I'm responsible!"

It was Rukia's turn to raise her eyebrow.

Just then the door flew open to reveal yet another person.

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Oh, the suspense!

I think I'm going to do two more chapters, so if there's anything you want to see tell me now and I'll see if I can put it in.

Later!

P.S. REVIEW! XD


	11. Chapter 11 Playtime and Owie

**Chapter 11: Playtime and Owie**

There standing in the front door was a tattooed man with red hair. He looked from one person to another until his eyes finally rested on Ichigo. When they did, he frowned.

"What the Hell is he doing here?"

"I can be anywhere I want, Renji!"

"I wasn't asking you!"

Kisuke greeted him with a casual wave. "Hey, how's it goin', moocher?"

Renji cringed. "Don't call me that! I get enough of that from those two kids!"

"Ooh! Somebody's in a bad mood."

"Ren-chan!"

He jumped and spun around. A ball of white fluff was flying straight at him and tackled him in the gut. "Ack!"

Hitsugaya hugged Renji around the middle and purred. "Ren-chan!"

Renji tried to desperately pry the little captain off his body. "Rangiku, did you give him a swig of your sake or something? I think he's a little tipsy."

"He's not drunk," Rukia explained.

"Then what the HELL is WRONG with him?" Renji grunted as he focused all his energy into prying Hitsugaya off his torso.

"He thinks he's a little kid."

Renji pushed Hitsugaya away and panted. "Duh! Tell me something I don't know. He's like the youngest captain we got in the Soul Society."

"No, no, no. He thinks he's a _really_ little kid."

Renji gave them all a quizzical look. "I don't follow. What does that mean?"

"It means that he got hit in the head and now thinks he's a little kid. A toddler, actually."

Renji snickered. "Seriously?"

"Why does everyone do that?!" Rukia growled. "Why does everyone think that's funny?"

"Because it is!" Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Ichigo said at once.

Renji got down on his knees and grinned at Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya handed his leftover lollipop to Rangiku and hurried over to Renji, believing it to be playtime. Renji laughed and shook his head. "Oh, man! This is too good to be true!"

"Yup," Kisuke said from his seat near the opposite wall. "He seems to be able to recognize everyone he already knows, but believes that he's a young toddler. Go figure."

"Oh, this is so awesome!" Renji was going to have fun with this; they could tell. He crouched down on all fours and leapt at Hitsugaya with a small playful growl. The little captain squealed happily and ran for cover. Renji laughed and chased after him. Hitsugaya bolted from his hiding place and climbed onto Renji's back and rode him like a horse. Renji bucked and growled in a playful manner and tried to shake him off. Hitsugaya clung to his shirt for dear life as the ride got even bumpier. He was having the time of his life.

Rukia gave an impressed smile. "Wow, Renji. I had no idea you were so good with kids."

"Ah, what can I say? They love me!"

"Yeah, right…" Ichigo muttered under his breath. _That explains why all these kids disrespect you, calling you 'moocher' and 'freeloader' all the time, and your wonderful disposition. Especially when it comes to being within ten feet of me and picking a fight. Yeah, kids love guys who complain and have a bad attitude._

But it was clear that the only reason why Renji was in such a good mood was because of the fact that Hitsugaya, for once, was acting less than his age… and was actually happy! When was this ever going to happen again? He may as well enjoy it before the opportunity slips away.

Renji bucked and wriggled this way and that, and Hitsugaya giggled and squealed in delight. He was having a blast. Their game went on until Kisuke informed them that it was time to go.

"You guys can't stay here. I have a business to run."

"Then where are..?"

"Oh, they went out for the morning. They're coming back in an hour. Too bad, really. Then Hitsugaya would have a couple playmates, you know." Kisuke crouched down to Hitsugaya, now dancing in circles around Renji. "And this is for you, little guy." He handed him a small box of watermelon flavored lollipops.

Hitsugaya snatched it from his hand and jumped up and down. "Wow! Thanks!" He handed the box to Rangiku for safe keeping and bounced over to Kisuke again. He opened his arms as if to ask for a hug, but when the man bent down on one knee to do so, Hitsugaya snatched the hat off his head and ran away giggling.

The long blond locks fell over the man's face. He flipped them to the side with a flick of his head. "Playful little scamp, ain't he?"

"You're the one who gave him sugar…" Ichigo muttered.

Hitsugaya hid behind Renji's back and place the green striped hat on his head. He giggled as it slid over his eyes. It smelled of cotton, wood and sweat. He danced around the room with the hat on his head. Rukia whipped out the camera and took a few snapshots. This was pure gold! When was he ever going to do this again? Might as well take as many photos as possible.

Hitsugaya returned the hat to its owner a minute later and held onto Rangiku's hand. "Bye-bye!" he waved with his free hand and kept a tight hold on her with the other.

Kisuke waved back. "That little runt is kinda cute…"

~*~*~

"Wee! Higher! Higher!!"

"OK!"

Renji was throwing Hitsugaya up in the air and catching him in his open arms in the living room. For some odd reason, Hitsugaya seemed to really like Renji. And, for another odd reason, seeing Hitsugaya like this seemed to bring out the best in Renji. No one had ever seen him so happy and playful before.

"Hey, how come he likes you best?" Ichigo had to ask.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just good with kids. Ever think of that?"

"You never were before."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Except that. Come on, do you have candy stuck to you or something?"

Hitsugaya giggled and hugged Renji around the neck.

Renji held him and shrugged. "Well… he gets along well with Rukia, right? Maybe he senses that we've known each other for a long time and, I don't know. Maybe he likes me because of her or something. I can't explain it."

Rangiku snapped a few more pictures of Hitsugaya hugging Renji with a big smile and agreed. "That could be a possibility. Maybe he's getting a good vibe from him."

"From Renji? Come on! The kid's afraid of Ikkaku but not Renji? What gives?"

Hitsugaya traced the lines of Renji's tattoos with his finger curiously.

"Or maybe he just likes you for your body art..?"

Renji helped Hitsugaya onto his shoulders and pranced around the room. "You holding on?"

"Uh-huh! Faster, faster!" Hitsugaya sat on Renji's shoulders and reached for the ceiling. This horsy-ride was fun! Renji held onto Hitsugaya's ankles and trotted faster around the room. He made a fast turn and Hitsugaya started to fall backward. He yelped and reached for the closest thing to grab onto- Renji's hair. He grabbed a handful of red hair and pulled himself back up.

"OW!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Hitsugaya immediately let go. "Did that hurt?"

Renji had every intention of yelling back 'yeah, of course it did! Why else would I scream like that if it wasn't painful?' But one look at Hitsugaya's sweet, innocent face and big aqua eyes filled with concern and Renji just couldn't bring himself to do it. His stone heart melted. "Nah, not too bad. Just try not to do it again, ok?"

"Ookie-dookie!"

Renji grinned and went back to trotting around the room. Having Hitsugaya like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and Renji had every intention of milking it for all it was worth. After all, when was something like this ever going to happen again? Renji might as well enjoy it while he could, and if that meant acting like a playful big brother then so be it. But after a while, it was starting to take a toll on his mind and body. Carrying Hitsugaya around like a horse was pretty exhausting work. Plus the little 'bundle of joy' kept kicking him every time he slowed down. Renji was getting tired. Fighting Hollows was one thing, but entertaining children was another thing entirely. It was almost crippling.

He staggered over to a chair. "Ok, Hitsugaya," he said breathlessly. "Let's take a rest."

"No! More ride! More!" He dug his heels deep into Renji's ribs. "Play! Play! Play!"

"Ok, ok… I have an idea. Let's play Give-Renji-a-break-for-once-and-let-him-rest-in-a-chair-for-five-minutes?"

"No! More play! Now! More! More! More!"

"Come on, kid…" He was cute and all, but enough was enough. Renji still wanted to tease him a little more and get a few more incriminating photographs but his body was aching. Hitsugaya rocked back and forth on his shoulders and tugged on his hair, demanding more. This was starting to get on Renji's nerves. _Ok, now I'm getting annoyed. If he keeps this up I __**am**__ going to hurt him!_ "Hitsugaya, knock it off!"

Hitsugaya refused and kicked harder.

Ichigo, who was leaning against the arm of a nearby chair, smirked at this.

"What the Hell are you smiling at?" Renji barked, noticing this.

"Nothing…" Ichigo said slyly.

"Don't give me that! If you've got something to say then say it! What's so damn funny?"

"Nothing…"

"More!" Hitsugaya pulled and kicked his 'horse' and whined loudly. "More!"

"Come on! Knock it off! You're starting to piss me off!"

"Ride! Ride more! Go! Go! Go!"

"Ragh! Ichigo, you take him!"

"Huh?"

"You heard me! Take him offa me!"

Ichigo grinned devilishly. "Aw, but you guys look like you're having so much fun! I'd hate to ruin it."

"Get him off me! Just take him for five minutes!"

Maybe it was out of pity, but Ichigo got to his feet and walked, very slowly, over to Renji. Renji couldn't wait to be rid of his burden. But before the exchange could be made, Hitsugaya did something that was unexpected. Seeing Ichigo approaching, he decided to leap into his arms. It didn't work out as planned. Renji still had a hold of one of Hitsugaya's ankles when he leapt. His small body lunged forward towards Ichigo, but was held back by Renji's hand. Feeling a yank, Renji instinctively released his grip… just as gravity had taken its effect on Hitsugaya's descending body. The result wasn't pretty. He fell from Renji's shoulders and landed face-first on the carpet with a loud thud.

Everyone in the room gasped. Ichigo and the girls knew what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, it did. Hitsugaya slowly lifted his head and sat there facing the ground. He stared at the rug in shock for a few moments before it happened. His small nose turned red and his eyes began to fill with tears.

They held their breath.

Hitsugaya's lower lip began to tremble and he started to whine, voice rising in pitch. Then he let it all out. He threw back his head and screamed.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Everyone threw their hands over their ears and cringed at the high-pitched wails.

"Hitsugaya! It's ok! Calm down!"

He wouldn't listen. He just screamed louder.

"What's wrong with him?!" Ikkaku shouted over the screams.

"He's hurt!" Rukia shouted back. "When he fell off of Renji he must've hurt himself!"

"Impossible! I've seen him get hit with much more than that without so much as a little scratch! He couldn't be hurt that bad!"

"Well, he thinks he is."

"What?!"

"I said he thinks he is!"

"Think about it," Yumichika shouted over Hitsugaya's cries. "At a toddler's age, they always make a big deal out of everything! If it looks painful, that means it is!"

"But I've never seen him cry before! Especially if he's hurt! He's tougher than that!"

"Not as a toddler he's not!"

Rangiku rushed over and scooped Hitsugaya up in her arms. She rubbed his back in an attempt to calm him. "Shh! Shh! It's ok! You're alright! Please, calm yourself!"

He wouldn't listen. He continued to cry and scream at the top of his lungs. No one knew that his voice could ever reach such a pitch. It was loud, long and shrill. She bounced him and paced the room, but nothing seemed to be working. It had worked before… What happened?

He screamed in her ear and wailed loudly, showing no signs of stopping.

"Someone do something!" Ikkaku shouted. "I'm about ready to rip my own head off!"

"I'm with you!" Renji agreed. "That kid's giving me a headache! Someone shut him up!"

But Rangiku was doing her best. He just wouldn't calm down. "Someone get me Flamy!"

"Who?!"

"His toy dragon! He calls it Flamy. Hurry!"

Ichigo knew exactly where it was. He bounded up the stairs, grabbed the toy off his bed and ran back downstairs. "Here! Here it is!"

"He calls that Flamy?" Yumichika observed. "But it's blue. I thought he would name it Icy or something like that. Does he have a red one he named Icy or something?"

No one paid him any attention while Ichigo handed, or rather shoved, the dragon to Hitsugaya. "Here, here! Take it!"

But Hitsugaya turned away and scream even louder. He didn't want it.

It was Rukia's turn next. He tried handing him a lollipop. To everyone's surprise, he knocked it out of her hand and flailed about. Not even candy worked.

He coughed and sobbed uncontrollably, face red and soaked with tears. Yumichika rushed over with a tissue in hand. "Here, use this." Hitsugaya coughed and sobbed again, and again. On the third sob he coughed and cried at the same time, spraying the other Soul Reaper with tears and snot. He jumped back and exclaimed, "Oh, GROSS! Ugh! Oh, oh! And he got some of it in my mouth, too! Ugh!"

Ikkaku snickered.

Rangiku paced the room and tried rocking him again. He carried on like there was no tomorrow, kicking and screaming with no restrictions. He could care less who suffered because of it. They could all go deaf for all he cared.

"Try something else!"

"Like what?!"

"Anything!"

They opened up the floor for ideas. Everyone took turns shouting suggestions.

"Wanna go for a walk?"

"WAAH!"

"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?"

"WAAAH!"

"Uh, do you want to play?"

"WAAH!"

"Do you want teddy? I can get him down for you. Believe me, it's no trouble…"

"WAAAAHH!"

"What do we do?! He won't shut up!"

Ichigo tried to think on his feet as best he could, but it wasn't easy to concentrate with all the screaming.

Rangiku tried to calm him down with her words, but that, too, did nothing to help. He was really worked up. He screamed and wailed like a banshee, stopping only to hiccup and cough. Then he started right back up again, choking on his sobs.

"I think he may be overtired," Rukia observed.

"How do you figure that?"

"He didn't have a substantial nap today, he was up at like the crack of dawn this morning, and he's probably worn out from all the excitement from today."

Rangiku turned her head toward her captain. "Is that true? Are you tired?"

He just screamed and cried some more, his voice beginning to crack. He was, even if he didn't realize it. But he certainly couldn't sleep if he was worked up. They still had to figure out a way to calm him down.

Finally, Ichigo had an idea. It was just a guess, but at this point he was willing to try just about anything; even if it didn't work. At least they'd know what worked and what didn't.

"Come on, calm down, Hitsugaya! Toshiro! Hitsugaya Toshiro! Aw, come on!" _He has to respond to one of these names_… "Calm down, Toshiro! Come on, Little Shiro!"

With one last hiccup, he stopped screaming. He looked at the one who called him by that name. "Wh… What did you just c- call me?"

Ichigo blinked. "… Little Shiro…"

He sniffed and coughed, choking back more sobs. "Ma… Momo calls me that…"

They all looked at each other in silence.

Hitsugaya sniffed and cried a little more, though a bit softer and not quite as hysterical. "Momo calls me Little Shiro." He allowed Rukia to wipe away his tears with another tissue.

"Do you miss her?"

He sniffed and nodded. "Uh… Uh-huh. And Nana, too. We all live together."

"Nana?"

"His grandmother, I think," Rangiku answered. She rocked him back and forth rubbing his back. He sniffed and whined again, while Rukia headed upstairs for something else. "Ikkaku, Yumichika, do you two think you could return to the Soul Society once he's calm and inform everyone that he's ok? Just don't tell them about his situation. Oh, and see if you can get in touch with Momo. Perhaps he should visit her."

Yumichika shook his head. "I'm afraid we can't do that. Yes to the first and second, but not the third request. I'm afraid Momo, from what I heard, is either out searching for him herself or still out on her own mission. She was given an assignment two days ago and it was supposed to take a while. I'm sorry."

Rangiku looked away disappointed. "Oh, well… It was a nice thought at least…"

"I wanna see Momo," Hitsugaya whined.

"Ok, you will, just not now."

"No, now!"

"She can't play right now. She's busy."

"I want Momo!"

"Ok, ok… But you don't want her to see you looking like this, do you?" She brushed a stray lock of white hair from his eyes. "Don't you want her to see you as a big strong man? Hmm? Wouldn't that be better?"

He sniffed and rubbed away more tears. "I _am_ a big strong man! I'm super tough!" He puffed out his chest trying to fit the role better.

She chuckled and patted his head. "Yes, yes, I'm sure you are. But even strong, tough men need their sleep. How about we try after your nap, ok?"

He pouted. "I don't need a nap! I'm fine!"

"Oh? Just one little nap?"

"But I'm not… sleepy…" A yawn interrupted him in the middle.

"Got it!"

Everyone turned as Rukia came running back downstairs holding something in her hand. She hurried over to the group, panting.

"Hey, that's Yuzu's!" Ichigo looked at the object in Rukia's hand. It was a small pink heart shaped box with a cherry blossom design covering it. The top had a large moon design in the middle. "What are you doing with my sister's music box?"

"Using it on Hitsusgaya, of course," she turned her back on him and moved closer to the overtired captain. "Since he's being so stubborn, I thought he could use a little help."

Hitsugaya looked at the strange object "What is that?"

"It's a music box. It's going to play a song for you."

Hitsugaya frowned. "Ew! I don't want that! It's too girly!"

"Don't worry… Little Shiro." She almost laughed out loud as the words left her mouth. "It's just a little song to help you go to sleep."

"Hmph!" He pulled away from it with a sour expression. "You mean like a lullaby? Ha! They don't work on me! Lullaby's don't effect strong tough men like me!" He lifted his left arm to show off his muscles. The girls giggled at this.

Rukia opened the music box and faced it towards Hitsugaya. Soothing lullaby music filled the room.

Hitsugaya smirked. "Told ya! Told you it wouldn't work! I don't even feel sleep…y…" He blinked, suddenly realizing that his eyes had gained a little weight. He rubbed them and blinked again. They still felt heavy. He never realized it before this moment, but his whole body felt strangely relaxed and he himself was feeling much calmer. He let out a yawn and turned back to the music box. He watched the dancing ornaments spin around in the small wooden box. One was a pink bunny and the other was a little raccoon. They kept spinning and spinning slowly to the music. It was strangely hypnotic. He couldn't stop watching them, but the more he did, the heavier his eyes became. He rested his head on Rangiku's shoulder and allowed all the energy to drain from his body. Feeling warm and comfortable, Hitsugaya finally closed his eyes.

Feeling his whole body go limp in her arms, Rangiku smiled at Rukia and she closed the music box. Now the only sound that could be heard was the sound of Hitsugaya's soft snores.

"He's asleep," she whispered to the others.

"Thank God…"

"Told you he was tired. Good thing I found this in your sister's room, huh?"

"How did you know she had that anyway?"

"I didn't. I just went upstairs to find something that could calm him down. That's when I found this on her dresser."

Rangiku tiptoed upstairs with the slumbering Hitsugaya in her arms. "I'm going to put him to bed," she whispered to the group. "You two go back to the Soul Society and give them that message. Oh! Hang on a few minutes. I have something for you guys, too. Just a second." She disappeared up the stairs.

Ikkaku breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.

"What?"

"Nothing… I'm just glad it's over. And we found out something new about Hitsugaya."

"What? That he can screech like a banshee?"

"No. That lullabies actually work on him."


	12. Chapter 12 Lullaby

**Chapter 12: Lullaby**

Hitsugaya slept a good part of the afternoon much to everyone's relief. After a two-and-a-half hour nap, he toddled his way downstairs to see what the others were up to. It appeared that they were cooking again. Was it dinner time already? He wasn't that hungry yet.

"Just don't burn it, ok Rukia?"

"What makes you think I was going to burn anything?"

"I dunno. Maybe from the way you were acting the other night, saying how I needed to help you 'cause you couldn't cook or something like that."

"It's not that I can't cook. It's just that Rangiku and I aren't chefs so don't expect anything too extravagant. That's all. And you should have been helping us anyway!"

"What?! But I had to deal with him all day long while you two went out shopping! I needed a break!"

"No, you just wanted to sulk because you couldn't stand being nice to him when we could! How could you refuse to fed a poor little kid like that?"

"I didn't refuse! He ate all his good food. He just wanted junk that would have him bouncing off the walls! I didn't want a repeat of before!"

"That's what you say but- Hitsugaya!"

Everyone turned to the white-haired boy toddling slowly into the room. He smiled bashfully and pulled the dragon closer to his chest with both arms. They all smiled at this. He was so cute.

"Are you getting hungry?"

He rubbed his face against the dragon's head and shrugged.

"Did you have a nice nap?"

He nodded. Then he looked around. "Where's Baldy and Chika-chan?"

Renji snorted at the unusual names. This kid was too great…

"They went on a little trip and will be back in a little while."

He looked disappointed. "Oh… I still wanted to play."

"You can still play. Those two have nothing better to do."

Renji's head picked up. "Which two?"

"You two. You can play with them, Little Sh-"

A hand suddenly clamped over Rukia's mouth preventing her from finishing. She followed the arm to its owner who spoke in a soft whisper. "Shh! Don't call him 'Little Shiro' anymore, ok?"

"Mph?"

Rangiku removed her hand.

"Why not?"

"Because it reminds him of Momo and if he can't see her I don't want him to get all excited for nothing then throw another tantrum when he can't see her."

"Oh! I didn't think of that. You're right."

Meanwhile Hitsugaya was dancing in circles around the two taller boys, chanting the word 'play' over and over again. "Play! Play! Play!"

"Ok, ok, ok! Let's do it in the living room, alright?"

Hitsugaya pushed the two into the next room and turned to the one with red hair. "Ren-chan, are you feeling better? Do you wanna play now?"

"Uh… Sure. Besides horsy, what else do you want to play?" Hitsugaya handed Renji the dragon and blabbed on and on about a whole bunch of nonsense. He looked to Ichigo for answers.

"He's playing pretend."

"Oh."

This little game of pretend went on a while. Renji still hadn't a clue as to what was going on. He usually wasn't very good with kids. Most of the time he just found them annoying and strange. Then again, some of them would also give him a hard time, like the two at Kisuke's shop. Not so much the girl, of course… It wasn't that he couldn't stand them. He just didn't always know what to do. But for some strange reason, something clicked when he saw Hitsugaya. He wasn't sure what it was, but he instinctively had taken on the role of an older brother, somehow. It was very strange. Normally he didn't act like this. There was just something about this cute, childish Hitsugaya that just brought out the best in him.

Hitsugaya pushed the roller-skate across the floor, nearly running over Renji's foot. He continued making sound effects. To him, the roller-skate was a powerful racecar and it needed to get away from the dragon as fast as possible and finish the race. Ichigo started to get up to stretch his legs. "No!" Hitsugaya stopped him. "You can't go. You're not supposed to move! You're the townspeople in the city. The city can't get up and walk away with all the people!"

Ichigo sat back down.

"Now don't move from that spot!" Hitsugaya wagged his finger in Ichigo's face, laying down the law.

Renji burst out laughing. "You heard the little man. Don't move! Hahahaha..! Oh, that was great. He told you off but good, with the finger and the… Oh, man." Hitsugaya smiled proudly and puffed out his chest at Renji's words. That only made the two men laugh this time. How was that _not_ cute?

The front door opened. "Hey, guys. We're back!"

"Baldy!" Hitsugaya ran to the man and jumped on him. "Baldy's back!" He climbed up the man's body and rubbed his shiny head. Yumichika laughed. No one ever so much as dared to rub his friend's head before. "Chika-chan!" Hitsugaya jumped over to him. "Hi, Chika-chan! Wanna play? Huh? Do you?"

He set Hitsugaya on the ground. "Yes, yes, just let us get in first."

"But you are in."

"I meant further into the room."

"Oh. Ok!" He waited until they were in the hallway. "How 'bout now?"

"Just a minute," Ikkaku told him. Hitsugaya continued to stare at Ikkaku's head. He cocked his head to the side and bit down on his lip giving him a curious look. "What?"

"I don't get it…"

"Get what?"

He motioned for the other to come closer. Ikkaku bent down and lowered his head. Hitsugaya knocked against his skull with his knuckles.

"Ow! What is it?!"

"Huh… I don't get it." Hitsugaya stepped back and examined Ikkaku's head from a distance. "They said that you had a thick shell, but I don't see it…"

"Wh… What? Who said what now?"

"They did." He pointed to the girls in the next room. "They said something about you having a thick shell… They said something like… 'Melon-head is pretty thick', or something like that and something about being hollow inside, that's why your shell is so thick or something because it's got nothing in it."

"… They said _what_?!"

Renji snickered as Ichigo whistled casually and looked at the ceiling. So Hitsugaya remembered it almost word-for-word after all. And those two females thought he wouldn't pick up on that, much less repeat it.

Ikkaku stormed into the kitchen. "Alright, which one of you said that about me?!"

Neither of them moved.

Yumichika brushed past him and stood next to Rangiku and spoke to her calmly, in a tone which Hitsugaya could not hear them in. "I gave them the message."

"Oh? How'd it go?"

"I'm afraid the whole secrecy plan isn't going to work. Telling them that he's fine with no further explaination isn't going to cut it. They want answers. Unfortunatly, the Soul Society wants to know why he can't return and for what reason he disappeared in the first place."

"Why couldn't you just make something up?"

"I'm not very good at lying on the spot."

She scoffed.

"What's more is that they also would like to speak with you."

"They what?"

"Well, yes. You also disappeared and you're the ringleader in all of this. They want to speak with you. And another thing, you also need to return in order to take over in Hitsugaya's place."

"What? Why me?"

"Well, you are the captain's lieutenant after all. Technically, it would make perfect sense for you to take over command while Hitsugaya is unable, seeing as how you're next in command and all. Technically speaking of course. It's only temporarily. Just until he gets better. The tenth division needs someone to lead them so it may as well be you."

"Ok, ok, I get it." She washed her hands in the sink and stared out the window. "But I can't just leave him like this… What if he needs me?"

"The others can handle him," Yumichika informed her. "Ikkaku and I also have to return for a little while. All three of us can be back tomorrow morning if our luck holds. And since you're going to have to give them a good explanation as to why he can't return, I suggest you come up with a damn good excuse."

"I know! I know! But do we have to leave right now? We're about to have dinner."

Yumichika inhaled the delicious aroma on the air and felt his stomach growl. "… I suppose it can wait."

"Rangi-chan!" Hitsugaya ran up and hugged her, nuzzling her body with his face. "Rangi-chan, I almost forgot to tell you something!"

"What is it?"

"I had a funny dream during my nap-nap today."

"Oh? What was it about?" She gave him her gentle smile.

"Well… it wasn't really ha-ha funny, but more of weird funny. In my dream, I was standing in a big field of ice!"

Rangiku's smile vanished. For some reason, this sounds very familiar… "Oh, is that right? Then what happened?"

"Not really anything. I just remember standing in a field of ice for a long time, but it didn't feel cold or anything."

"Have you ever had that dream before?"

He thought about it for a while then shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe, but I can't remember."

"Dinner!" Rukia called and the boys stampeded into the kitchen, pushing and shoving at each other to get a seat since the table only had four chairs. While Renji and Ichigo wrestled over the same chair, Rukia set Hitsugaya gingerly into a chair of his own.

"It's my house! I get the chair!"

"Share! You get to sit and have dinner all the time in a chair, so let someone else have a turn!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Yeah, it does! Move!"

"You move!"

"Make me!"

"If you're askin'..!"

Rukia watched as they pulled the chair out and attempted to sit down at the same time. She rolled her eyes and sat down in the chair herself.

"Hey, you can't do that!"

"Why not? You pulled it out for me."

"No, we didn't!"

Rangiku sat down in the seat next to her captain and handed him a plate. "How much do you want? I can get it for you."

"Thanks!" he chirped.

~*~*~

After dinner, Hitsugaya was tucked into bed and the others finally had a chance to relax. After telling the others what was happening, Rangiku slipped out of the house along with Ikkaku and Yumichika. Rukia insisted on coming along, too, for moral support, and the fact that she could be a pretty good lair when she wanted to be. This left Ichigo and Renji home alone with Hitsugaya. Ichigo slept on the couch, having won the staring contest with Renji for it, while he slept on the floor. He just didn't feel right about sleeping in either of his sister's or father's rooms, even if it would be more comfortable.

At about 2:30 in the morning, Ichigo awoke to a strange warmth pressed against his body. It fidgeted and moaned next to him, trying to squeeze onto the couch with him. _What the Hell? _He opened his eyes and looked down. "Hitsugaya, what are you doing?" He seemed to respond to this name a lot more than Toshiro for some reason. Perhaps it was because he somehow knew deep down that he was a captain and preferred to be addressed by his appropriate title.

Hitsugaya whimpered and gave him a sad look in the dark. He mumbled something incoherent.

"Come again?"

"I had a nightmare…" He sniffed and whined a little.

"Oh, man, please don't start crying on me…" Ichigo sat up and put a hand on the Soul Reaper's shoulder. "It was just a dream. It's ok. Nothing bad can hurt you in a dream. Go back to bed."

He sniffed and rubbed his eyes on the back of his fists. "But… but I can't sleep."

Ichigo groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

He whimpered again.

"Nnugh..! What's goin' on?" Renji had woken up. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked around, long red hair falling across his face. "What's he doing up?"

"Nightmare."

"Oh, please…" He rolled over with a grunt. "Go back to bed."

"I can't… I'm still scared. I can't sleep."

"A little warm milk and you'll be as good as out."

Hitsugaya whined. "I can't! I can't sleep! I'm too scared…" Not having any luck with the grouchy redhead, Hitsugaya turned his attention to the other. "Please..?"

"Please what?" dare he ask.

"Can… can I sleep with you?"

He flinched. "W- What?!"

"Can I please sleep with you?" He stuck out his lower lip for effect.

No part of that sounded right to him. No way was that going to happen. "There's no room on the couch for two people," he reasoned.

"But I can't sleep alone!"

"Sleep with Renji."

"What?!"

"You heard me. He can sleep with you on the floor."

Renji sprang up. "No way in Hell am I doing that! I'm not sharing my blanket with him! It's bad enough that you were too damn lazy to get me a futon, now this? Forget it!"

"There's no room with me!"

"Then you can give him the couch and you can sleep on the floor!"

"He doesn't want to be alone!"

"Then you can hold his hand!"

Before another fisticuffs broke out between the two, Hitsugaya started to cry. He hiccupped and rubbed his face against his sleeve.

"No! It's ok! Don't cry, don't cry!" Ichigo pleaded. "We'll help you. Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright."

Hitsugaya hugged Ichigo, seeking comfort and sniffed.

"Man, he's really upset…" Renji whispered. Who knew that Hitsugaya was so sensitive?

They led him upstairs and back into bed. Ichigo handed him the dragon and tucked him in. But he wouldn't close his eyes. He wouldn't even let them leave. If either of them made any movement toward the door, he'd start crying again.

How to keep him calm?

"Would you like warm milk?"

He shook his head. "I don't like it. That stuff's yucky."

"Ok… Want a story?"

Again, he shook his head.

"Well, I'm fresh out of ideas," Renji sighed.

"You only suggested two things!"

"So? I can't think of anything else that could knock him out… Unless of course we actually do just that." He raised his fist. "Hold still, kid."

Hitsugaya yelped and hid under the covers while Ichigo grabbed his arm and forced it down. "We're not doing that!"

"Hey, I don't like being woken up in the middle of the night because some kid had a nightmare. He's cute in the morning, but at night my kindness goes out with the sun."

"We don't have to hit him."

"Then how else are we supposed to put him to sleep fast?"

A thought popped into Ichigo's head. "I got it! The music box! We'll just play him a lullaby!"

"Great! Go get it while I stay here with him."

Despite Hitsugaya's protests, Ichigo fled the room and went into his younger sister's. The music box wasn't on her dresser. He searched the room and came up with nothing. He hurried downstairs to the kitchen and living room but found no trace of the music box. It was nowhere to be found. Defeated, he climbed up the stairs and back into the room.

"What took you so long?!" Renji growled. He was busy trying to stop Hitsugaya from crying by holding his arms down to keep them from flailing about with one hand and making the dragon dance with the other.

Hitsugaya sniffed and whined. "Ichi-chan! Why did you leave? Stay here! No go bye-bye!"

'_Bye-bye'? Was Hitsugaya getting worse? No. He just never had a chance to use that term yet_. Ichigo sat next to Renji on the floor. "Bad news. I can't find the music box."

"Great!" Renji snarled. "Now what are we suppose'ta do?!"

Hitsugaya was tired, no doubt about that. But he refused to go to sleep. He couldn't relax after that nightmare. He needed a lullaby but if they couldn't find the music box, how else were you suppose to do it? Unless…

"I've got it!" Renji pointed to Ichigo. "_You_ sing him a lullaby!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Sing to him. He's go to sleep."

"No way! I don't sing!"

"You will now!"

"Uh-uh! No way! That's where I draw the line!"

"Come on… You always say that and end up doing it away!"

"I do not!"

"Oh, yeah? I'm sure you said that when he had to stay here. And when he had candy, and when you had to give him a bath-"

"I just don't feel right about doing it, that's all! I rarely go to public baths!"

"It's nothing you've never seen before!"

"I don't feel comfortable about it!"

"Aw, are you ashamed? Makes you feel _small_?"

"That's it! Come here!" Ichigo lunged at Renji and got ready to punch him in the face.

But Hitsugaya started to act up again. It seemed that any additional negativity only upset him even further. The two separated and sat back down. Hitsugaya calmed as well. They needed to handle this as calmly as possible.

"Ok. How about this… You sing to him, Renji."

Renji narrowed his eyes at him. "No way! I can't sing!"

"Try," he pressured.

"Fine, if you like loud and off key." They stared each other down for several minutes. Neither one would waver. "You sing him a song, dumbass."

"I will not!"

"Do it!"

"Make me!"

He moved to punch him, but lowered his arm when Hitsugaya whimpered. "Just do it."

Ichigo bit his lip and looked at Hitsugaya on the bed. He waited there with big puppy eyes. Sighing in defeat he asked, "What should I sing?"

Renji grined. "A lullaby."

"Duh. But which one?"

"I don't know. Pick one."

He pondered. "How about Rock-A-Bye Baby?"

He wrinkled his nose. "A song about falling babies? How is that soothing? Pick something else."

Ichigo thought again. "Uh… Hush Little Baby?"

Again, Renji declined. "Nah. Isn't that song about buying a bunch of usless junk that ends up breaking on you? It's a cheapskate song. What else you got? What song does that music box play?"

"I don't know. I could never tell." He racked his brain trying to think of something. What other lullabies did he know that he could sing to him? He needed to know the words… It had to be soft and soothing…

"I think I got it. I know this one lullaby, but I don't know if it would work."

"Just try it."

"Ok, ok." Ichigo crawled to the side of the bed and rested his arm on the corner of the mattress. Hitsugaya watched him curiously. "Here goes nothing…" He took a deep breath and focused on making his voice as soft and soothing as possible. He sang.

"Nano hana batake ni,

iri hi usure Miwatasu yamano hakasu mifukashi Harukaze soyofuku sora o mireba Yuzukikakarite nioi awashi.

Sato wa no hokagemo mori no iro mo,

Tanaka no komichi o tadoru hiro mo Kawazu no nakunemo kane no tomo Sanagara kasumeru oborozuki yo."

He felt ridiculous. He never sang in front of anyone before… unless doing it in the elementary school play counted for anything. He avoided eye contact with anyone and consentrated on his singing. Halfway throught the song, he glanced up to see if it was working. Hitsugaya's eyes were drooping and his head started to bob. He was geeting drowsy. So it was working after all. Hitsugaya collapsed on the bed and stretched his arm out for the dragon. Renji handed it to him and the captain held it close to his chest.

Ichigo was about three words away from finishing the song, but Hitsugaya was still awake. So far he was extremely mellow and groggy. Just a little more should do the trick. He repeated the last verse over again. It did the trick. Halfway through the last verse, Hitsugaya closed his eyes and fell asleep. But just to be sure, Ichigo finished the song anyway.

Renji leaned over. He examined Hitsugaya's peaceful expression. "Is he asleep?"

"Yeah," Ichigo whispered back. He pulled the covers up to Hitsugaya's shoulders and backed away as quietly as possible, pulling Renji out the door with him. Once the door was shut, he let out a sigh. "Finally. I think he'll sleep through the night now."

"Thank God." Renji suddenly sprinted for the living room. "I call the couch!"

Ichigo chased after him but by the time he caught up to him, he was already on the couch. "Hey, I'm the one who put him to sleep. I deserve the couch!"

"You had it already!" He snuggled into the pillow. "Nice singing by the way. Who knew you ever had it in you?"

Ichigo crawled under the blanket on the floor. "Yeah, about that…"

"Huh?"

"What happened in that room, _stays_ in that room."

"Embarrassed?"

"… Shut up."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

OK. The next chapter will end it. This time, I mean it will be the last chapter… Unless I decide to do an extra chapter or something.

Hope you'll like it! Please review!


	13. Chapter 13 Normal?

**Chapter 13: Normal?**

Hitsugaya rolled over and pulled the blanket over his body. It wouldn't budge. It was tangled up in his legs. He moaned sleepily and pulled harder. He felt it give and wrapped it around his body. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his face and turned his back to it, rolling onto his other side. Why did the sun have to be so bright and warm? He just wanted to sleep a little longer. Was that too much to ask for? A little peace and quiet… He rubbed his face against the pillow and buried his face under it, hiding from the sun.

Wait a minute… Since when was he in a bed?

He opened his eyes. Sure enough, he was in a bed. A nice soft, warm one, too. It was very cozy and made him feel like going back to sleep; but he couldn't. He needed to investigate. He sat up and looked around. This was a bedroom. It was slightly familiar. He reodnized it. It belonged to another 'Soul Reaper'.

"What the Hell am I doing in Ichigo's room?" His head throbbed a little. "Ugh! My head is killing me..! What happened to me? What am I doing here? How did I get here?" He felt something under his arm. It was a stuffed dragon toy. What was that there? "Why is this thing tucked under my arm?" He threw it to the floor. That's when he noticed that his thumb was wet, as if he had been sucking on it. "Why is my thumb wet? What's going on here?" He needed to figure out what was going on. Kicking off the covers, Hitsugaya swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. He felt a little shaky, but somehow managed to stand on his own two feet. He stubbled to the door and opened it.

He heard voices coming from the floor beneath him.

"So how did it go?"

"Fine."

"Until things change, I'll have to assume command in his stead. It can't be changed."

"Plus, there's really no reason for you to stay anyhow. He's fine here for today, but my family will be back either tonight or tomorrow morning. When that happens, he'll have to stay with Kisuke."

There was a strange sound and Hitsugaya could hear shuffling noises.

"Don't worry, Rangiku. It'll be fine. It's only temporary. Things will improve."

That was Rukia's voice. Then Ichigo's started up again.

"Gee, I had no idea you were so attached to him."

"Oh, it's not only that."

"Are you that worried about him?"

"Well, yes, but that's not it."

"Then what?"

"What if something cute happens and I'm not around to see it?"

He heard Ichigo slap himself in the forehead. "Jeez! You never change!"

"Don't worry. I still have a whole new camera. I'll get a picture of everything you miss."

"Rukia! Don't encourage this!"

"Oh, have a heart!"

"What's that mean?"

"So where are they?" Rukia again.

"Oh, they'll be here in a minute. They couldn't carry it all as quick as they thought they could."

"What?"

"You know. Captain to captain..."

"Oh. Gotcha."

Hitsugaya couldn't stand it any longer. He wobbled downstairs, slowly regaining his balance. What happened to him? Why did he feel so out of it? Running his hand across the wall to help keep his balance, he entered the kitchen where the others were talking.

Rukia pointed behind Rangiku. She was the first one to notice him.

Rangiku giggled at his bedhead and knelt down. This was strange. She never knelt before him like this before. Whether or not she repected him, she would never do this to him. Yet here she was down on one bent knee looking up at him with soft eyes. What was that strange look? It was almost… motherly.

"Ohh, did you sleep well, Hitsugaya?"

Since when did she call him that? Sure, she always called him that, but never without attaching the title of 'captain' to it first. He was about to ask when his head throbbed again. He put a hand to his head and winced.

"Are you ok?"

"Ugh..! Yeah. Just a headache… I woke up with it."

She cooed sympathetically cupping her hands under her chin. "Ohhh..! You poor baby! Come here." She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his body.

He could feel his body being constricted as she tightened her grip around his smaller body. This was unexpected, but certainly not out of character for his bizarre, if not overly affectionate, lieutenant. Still, he couldn't remember the last time she tried to hug him like this before. "Wh- what are you doing?!" he managed to choke out, feeling his bones cracking.

She only hugged him tighter and stood up with him still in her arms. Of course, being much smaller than she was, the moment his feet left the tiled floor his body started to slip downward. His chin hit against something soft. He flinched.

"St-stop it! Let me go!"

She kissed his forehead before it disappeared into her chest. She tightened her hold on him, mushing his face deeper into her large breasts. He shut his eyes in horror realizing that his face was buried in her cleavage. He pushed against her body and flailed about, suffocating in her bosom.

"Mmmm-mm-MMM!" His muffled pleas for air got through to her and was released. He staggered backwards, gasping for air. "Wh… What the HELL do you think you're DOING?! I could've died in there! Don't ever do it again! Understand me?"

"Aww! Somebody's grumpy!" Rangiku pinched his cheek and pulled.

"OW!" He slapped her hand away. "Don't do that! What's the matter with you, Matsumoto?!"

She stopped, dumbfounded. Did he just say what she thought he said? "What… did you just call me?"

"Matsumoto. Why? Last time I checked, that was your name. Is there a problem?" He was confused and judging from the looks on their faces, they were, too. Why were they looking at him like that? It was a little unnerving. They each exchanged looks before turning back to him.

"So, uh… Toshiro..?" Ichigo started.

"That's Captain Hitsugaya to you!" He was a captain, damn it… and proud of it! Why did everyone insist on belittling him like this?

Ichigo bent slightly at the waist to make himself slightly shorter. "Do you know who I am?"

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. What was going on? Of course he knew who he was. "Ichigo Kurosaki, of course. Why are you asking me such a thing? I know who you are… unfortunately."

Ignoring that remark he pointed to the woman next to him. "What position is she in at the Soul Society?"

"Rangiku? She's my lieutenant." This was strange. Why were they asking him such things? His head was pounding and he was getting fed up with no one answering his own questions. "Now it's my turn to ask my questions. What am I doing here in Kurosaki's house? How did I get here? Why am I here? And why are you asking me all these ridiculous questions?!" They just blinked at him. "Answer me!"

Rukia was the first to speak. "Wait… Does this mean that he's..?"

Ichigo nodded. "I think he's back to normal."

"Normal? What do you mean by-? HEY!" Rangiku lunged at him and embraced him tightly in her arms.

"Oh, Captain! I'm so happy for you! You're back! Now I don't have to do more work…"

Hitsugaya pushed her off and backed away fearing she may do it again. "What do you mean 'back'? Back from where? Did I go somewhere or something? What is going on? Answer my questions, for the last time!"

"Well, it's sort of a long story, Captain…"

"Trust me. I have time. Now talk."

"Yes, sir… But I'm not exactly sure how to break it to you…"

"Try." He did all in his power not to grind his teeth.

"HEY!" Renji had just appeared around the corner and crouched down in front of Hitsugaya, a camera of his own in hand. "Haha, see what I got from Rukia? Now I can have some fun of my own."

Hitsugaya looked at him quizzically. Renji seemed unusually chipper this morning. What was up with that? And why did he have such a strange mischievous smile on his face?

Renji handed him a small doll from Yuzu's room and a pink ribbon. "What do you say, little guy? How about you tie that ribbon in your hair and have a little tea party with that doll I found and I can take your picture?"

Hitsugaya's whole body suddenly convulsed. "Wh… What did you just say?!"

Rukia tried to stop this before things got ugly. "Uh, Renji…" But Ichigo held her back. He didn't want to miss a second of this.

Renji lowed the camera slightly with a small look of disapointment. "Oh… Well, if you don't what to do anything too girlish like that… I guess we could just have Ichigo give you a bath while I take pictures. After all, I missed it last time."

Hitsugaya's face turned red and his eye twitched.

"Aw, isn't that a cute angry face? Hold it." Renji raised the camera up to take the picture… But Hitsugaya grabbed it in one hand and crushed it in his bare fist. "Hey, you little brat!" Without any hesitation at all, Hitsugaya wasted no time in throwing him into the next room.

"What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU SICK BASTARD?!"

Renji crawled back into the room with a small look of shock. "What the Hell?" He rubbed his head, feeling the bump slowly forming.

"Uh, Renji," Rukia helped him to his feet. "We think he regained his memories."

"Ya think?"

"Yo, guys! We're here!"

"Yeah, finally…"

Ikkaku and Yumichika came in through the front door carrying three large sacks.

Yumichika tossed a sack at Rangiku's feet and scolded, "Thanks a lot, Rangiku. When we told you that it would take us a while to get here carrying all this stuff, that didn't mean go on ahead while we struggle!"

"What do you mean?" She looked taken aback by this remark.

"We told you, 'with all this stuff, it'll take us a while longer to get back to the house without help'. That meant, help us out with our load! Not go on ahead while we struggle! There are three bags! Why the Hell couldn't you carry one of them back with you?!"

"You didn't ask."

"Yes, we did!"

"You did not!"

"Yes, we did! We implied it!"

"Which isn't the same thing!"

Ikkaku handed a bag to Hitsugaya. "This is for you."

Hitsugaya shied away from it. "What is it?"

Yumichika dumped his sack up-side down in Hitsugaya's arms. "A little gift from Captain Ukitake. He insisted that you have all these."

Hitsugaya looked down at the pile of sweets in his arms. Everything from gumdrops and licorice to chocolate and lollipops. He looked at them with disgust. He glared at Yumichika. "And why would he give me this?"

"He always does."

"That may be, but he's never given me so much before. Why the sudden change?"

"When he heard of your condition, he insisted we bring you all these."

"This is all candy?"

"You wish." Ikkaku dumped his bag at Hitsugaya's feet until he was standing in a knee-high mountain of toys.

His eye twitched again. "What the Hell is all this?"

"He thought you'd like them. You know, to play with."

Twitch. Twitch.

Ikkaku held up a super-soaker and a slingshot. "Come on, you'd have fun with this. Though I have to agree, I don't know what he was thinking when he put this in here…" He held up a rag doll in a pink dress. Ikkaku couldn't help but notice the sour look on the young captain's face. It was his perfect opportunity to tease him for a change… or so he thought. Ikkaku squatted down and did the worst thing he could ever do. He patted his head.

Hitsugaya flinched.

"Aw, poor kid," he chuckled. If the others could tease him, why shouldn't he? What was the worst thing that could happen? "Are you a grumpy-guss? How 'bout a kiss?" He puckered his lips teasingly.

The reaction he got was something far different than he had expected. Hitsugaya, face red as a beet, litterally punched him though the wall. Ichigo rushed over out of concern. Not for the fallen comrade, but for the wellbeing of his house. "God, look at the size of this hole! Damn it, Hitsugaya, punch him all you want but don't wreck my house! My family'll be back in a few hours!"

Yumichika didn't know what to do at first. Right now he was just stunned. He looked to the others for answers.

"He's back to normal."

"Ah. I see."

Still fuming with rage, Hitsugaya rounded on the others. "For the last time, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Tell me right NOW!"

Yumichika asked, "What do you mean? Don't you remember anything?"

"Stop answering my questions with questions! Remember what?!"

"Capatin," Rangiku said as calmly as she could. "What's the last thing you remember?"

He tried to think back. "Well, I remember being in my office. I was filling out more papers… Then you came in and I told you to get to work and you ran off. Then I… I…" He tried to remember. His memory was muddled. "It's a little fuzzy, but… I remember… slipping on something… And then I remember falling, but… I don't really remember much after that."

"Then what?"

"Then I just remember waking up in Kurosaki's bed. What was I doing in there? What happened to me? Why did you bring me here? How long have I been here?"

"About three days maybe."

His eyes widened. "Three days? I was out for three days?!"

"Oh, no, no! You were here for three days. We took care of you."

"We?"

"Rukia, myself and Ichigo there." She gestured to the boy attempting to pull Ikkaku free from the wall.

"For God's sakes! Now he's breaking my walls?! There's no stopping that guy! He's just one big ball of distruction."

"Ow! Ow! OW! That hurts!"

"Come on, Ikkaku! Get your head out of there!"

"I'm trying! I'm stuck! It won't give!"

"Turn your head!"

"I can't! OW! You're gonna break my neck!"

Hitsugaya was very confused. "Then what's been happening for the past few days? I can't remember a thing."

Rangiku shifted her gaze around the room. "Who wants tea?!"

"Matsumoto, tell me this instant!"

She whined childishly and stomped her foot. She didn't want him to know the truth but... "Ok..! Ugh! This isn't going to be easy to tell you, so I'll just say it. Captain… When you fell, you hit your head and was knocked out."

"Ok. And?"

"Well, when you woke up, you sort of thought you…. You were a… uh… a, um…"

"Out with it!"

"Youthoughtyouwereababy!"

He blinked. "Slow down. What was that? What did you just say?"

"You… thought… you were a… a… baby. Well, a toddler actually."

He blinked. And blinked again. He forced a nervous laugh. "Ha. Haha…Ha. Yeah, right. Come on, really, what happened to me?"

No one spoke.

"No way. I don't believe that for a second."

"It's true. You really did. You acted like one. You spoke as one. You truly believed you were a toddler for the past few days. No kidding."

He was still skeptical. "There's no way I would ever-"

"Well, you did!" Ichigo called from the next room. With a mighty heave, he managed to pull Ikkaku free from the wall with a loud crash.

"Oh, really?" He was still doubtful. "What exactly did I do in this state?"

"Oh, the usual. You played with your food, gave everyone nicknames, took a lot of naps, played with toys, sucked your thumb… You know, kid stuff."

He shook his head. "I don't believe that for a second. No way. Me, suck my thumb? I don't do that… Ever!"

"Well, you did."

"No way!"

"I have proof!"

Yumichika held up a small stack of photographs. Rangiku made a grab for them but failed. She had enough sense not to show those to her captain, but Yumichika wasn't a part of their division. If Rangiku was caught with these, she'd be killed on the spot. But Yumichika..? What was he going to do? Complain to _his_ captain? Then again, this was Hitsugaya we're talking about. Who's to say that he couldn't kill Yumichika for possession of embarrassing photographs?

Yumichika handed the pictures to the captain and took a few steps back to safety. He didn't want to be anywhere near the captain when he exploded.

Hitsugaya looked at the photo on top of the stack. He shood frozen in shock for a moment then when the picture finally registered with his brain, his jaw dropped. "Wh… What the Hell is this?!"

It was a picture of him sucking his thumb and waving at the camera shyly. He flipped to the next one. In the picture he was smiling happily at the camera holding up what appeared to be a stuffed toy dragon. The third one was of him sitting in Rangiku's lap sucking on a lollipop. He flipped through the rest at an alarming speed. There was one of him napping in Ichigo's bed, in Rangiku's arms, another of him sucking his thumb as he slept, and another one, one of him covered in flour, one of him playing with a roller-skate, one of him riding on Renji's back, and one of him wearing Kisuke's trademark hat.

All the color drained from his face. His eyes got impossibly wide and his hands shook uncontrollably. "How did you..? When did you..? Are these real?"

"100% real! No one doctored them up at all!"

"But… but I don't remember doing any of this! I have no recollection of this at all!"

Yumichika nodded slowly. "Hmm… That would make sense, seeing as how you suffered a head injury and all. The bump on your head probably interfered with your ability to recall such things. Another way to put it is that your true self was locked up for some time…"

"Huh?"

"Well, when you hit your head, your brain got damaged. So the you that we saw was just the inner you taking over while the real you was laying dormant inside. I'm not sure how else to explain it."

Hitsugaya looked at the last picture in the stack and gasped. "You took a picture of me in a towel?!"

"What?!"

"When did that happen?"

Rangiku giggled nervously. "Well, you'll be happy to know that we never saw anything. We knew that peeping in on you in the tub was wrong so we waited until you were finished with your bath and hid by the stairs to take the picture. I mean you were just so cute, we had to-"

"'We'?"

"Rukia and I."

Hitsugaya's whole face was burning red. He wasn't just upset. He was outraged! "Burn 'em."

"Huh?"

"What'd you say?"

"Burn them! I said to burn the pictures! I don't want a damn one left! Burn them, rip them to shreds, eat them if you have to! I want them all destroyed!"

"Oh, but Captain…"

Without another word, Hitsugaya took the stack in his hands and ripped them in half, then in half again. He ripped them again and again until they had been torn to shreds. He threw the remains into the sink and turn back to the group screaming, "Now burn the remains!"

"But…"

"You heard me! Those pictures aren't cute! They're humiliating! I don't want a single one of them getting out! You hear me?!"

"But Captain…"

"That's an order! I want them all destroyed!"

"But, sir… those weren't the only ones we took."

Still shaking with rage, he stormed up to his lieutenate and shouted in her face, "Then give me the rest of them right now!"

"But…"

"I said NOW!"

"But I can't!"

"I don't care how cute you say they are, I order you to give them to me this instant!"

"But I'm afraid I don't have them."

He leaned into her face, standing on tip-toes and pulling her down to his level. "Then... Where…Are… They?" he hissed in a menacing voice.

Her eyes scanned the kitchen for answers. "Uh… well, umm… Yumichika knows! Tell him!" She traded placing with the Soul Reaper.

"Gee thanks… Ahem! Well, the thing is… uh…" Yumichika took one look at Hitsugaya's expression and found that he could no longer speak. His eyes were filled with murderous rage. It sent chills down his spine. "Umm…"

"Just… TELL ME!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Ok, ok! All beating around the bush aside… Uh… Well, I'll just say it. Rangiku wanted to make copies of those pictures she and Rukia took, so when we went back to the Soul Society, she took all the pictures with her to ask the people in the copying room to print out some for her."

Hitsugaya's mouth was wide open but no sound was coming out. His face began to twitch and turned as white as a sheet. "…You… Did… WHAT?!"

"We sort of left those pictures behind when we came back here, you see. They needed time to copy them and we also sort of… May have… Bumped into a couple of people on our way out."

Hitsugaya grabbed Yumichika by his collar and pulled him down to face level and hissed in his face, "…Who… Else… Saw… Those… Pictures?! Who has them? Who saw them? WHO?!"

"N- n- no one in particular..!" He gulped. "Just, uh… Ukitake, a couple of the people in his squad, and just about everyone in the copying room. Maybe a few others, but I don't know for sure! Ukitake might have decided to show other people but…"

Hitsugaya threw Yumichika against the wall and grabbed Rangiku by the arm. "We're going back NOW!"

"But, sir, we still-"

"I said NOW!" He dragged her out the door. "I have to get those pictures back! I'm out of it for a little while and you do _this_?! How could you do this to me?! And in my condition! God! How could you do something so stupid, reckless, irresponsible, underhanded, nasty..!" Whatever he said next went unheard as he rounded a corner still dragging Rangiku behind him.

Yumichika brushed himself off and followed after them and Ikkaku. Renji tagged along as well, carrying the sacks of goodies they had forgotten. Rukia started after them as well.

"Where are you going?" Ichigo asked.

"Maybe if I hurry, I can snag up a picture before he destroys them all. That one of him helping us unpack our clothes was so cute! That happened while you were sulking and all…"

"Sulking?! Oh, don't get me started! You started it by giving him sugar in the first place!"

"You didn't have to be so mean to the poor little guy! If he's hungry, feed him! Don't let him starve!"

"Starve nothing! He wanted junk! I said 'no' and you gave it to him anyway!"

"He was in tears! If he wants it, let him have it!"

"Rukia, I'm a Hell of a better parent than you will ever be! God help you if you ever have kids and I'm not around to help you out! You don't know anything about kids!"

"Ha! You think you can do better than me?"

"I did! I did a Hell of a lot more than you two! All you guys did was fawn over him and say how cute he was! I swear! If I heard you say 'aww' one more time..!"

"Stop complaining! You managed fine last night, too. And he's all better now."

"Oh, yeah, last night! I don't know where the Hell you put the music box, but I couldn't find it anywhere! And we really needed it last night, too! He got up in the middle of the night and we really could have used it!"

"You mean this?" She pulled Yuzu's music box out from behind her back. "I forgot I had it with me. Sorry."

"You mean to tell me that you had it with you this entiar time?! How stupid are you that you can forget that you had something slightly smaller than your head with you?!"

"I said I was sorry, you idiot! God, I can't stand you! Now look what you did! Now I'm late! I hope I can still make it in time before Hitsugaya destroys all those pictures!" She hurried out the door.

"Hey, genius! You still have the damn music box with you!"

"Fine, take it!" She pitched the music box through the air. It was sent soaring though the house and beaned Ichigo right between the eyes. The force of it caused him to do a complete flip through the air and land head-first on the hard linoleum floor. He lay flat on his back on the kitchen floor, completely unconscious.

~*~*~

Ukitake held up another one. "Aww! Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!"

Kira held up another. "Oh, oh! Look at this one!"

"And this! Check this one out!" Hisagi laughed and held up a photo.

Momo held up and handful and examined each one carfully. "I had no ideea Little Shiro could look so cheerful before. He sure is cute! Captain Ukitake, do you mind if I take this one?"

"Not at all! Help yourself! There's plenty of them to go around." He patted his hand on the large pile on his desk. "We have several dozens here!"

Hisagi picked up another from the pile. "Ha ha! Look at this one! Check it out!"

Kira leaned over for a better look. "Ha ha! That's great! Oh, God, I wish I was there!"

"I know! OH, look at this one!"

"Hey, isn't that Kisuke's hat?"

"I think it is!"

"Let me see!" Momo stole a peek. "Aw, that's cute! It looks good on him!"

"Oh, and this one! HAHAHA! He's covered in flour! How cute!"

Ukitake held up another one and burst out laughing. "AWW! Look at this one!" He held up another.. "Oh! Oh, this one's great! And this one…uuuuagh..!" He wobbled and collapsed in his chair.

"Captain, are you alright?!"

"Ugh, yeah. Yes, I'm fine. Just got a little dizzy. Don't worry about it."

"You shouldn't get so excited, sir," Momo advised. "Here, just sit in this chair and look at the pictures sitting down. That way you won't fall down if you get another dizzy spell."

"Oh, thank you. That's a good idea. Would you hand me that pile right there. Yes, those."

Kira asked, "Why do you have those ones set aside?"

Ukitake smiled to himself as he flipped through the photos. "Oh, I just really like these ones. I think they're my favorites. I should have these ones copied myself. What do you think?"

"Is that him in a towel?"

"Oh, my!" Momo covered her eyes.

"Relax, it doesn't show anything." Hisagi looked closer. "Hey, isn't that Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Ukitake looked closer. "I think you're right! It is him! Oh, I see. This must be his house."

"Hahaha! This one's awesome! Look, he's sucking his thumb!"

"There are like ten of those."

"Yeah, but this one is so cute!"

"Hey, I thought he didn't like sweets. Why's he eating a lollipop?"

"Maybe he really does, Momo."

"I guess but…"

"NO!"

Everyone jumped and spun around at the sudden scream. Hitsugaya launched himself through the air and onto the desk, grabbing up as many photos as he could.

"Little Shiro, you're back!"

"Don't call me that!" Hitsugaya spat, still grabbing up the incriminating photos off the table. "Give me those!" He snatched them away from Hisagi and Kira.

"What's your problem?"

"Yeah, these are so cute!"

"Shut up!"

"Ha! Your face is red!"

"I said shut up!"

Rangiku and Rukia stood in the doorway. "I don't think it's safe to go in just yet."

Rukia nodded. "Yeah… He'll rip my head off if I get too close." She let out a whine. "Oh, but I have to get one of those pictures! All that trouble getting them can't go to waste."

"I know what you mean…"

Hitsugaya started to straggle Hisagi when he made a grab for one of the pictures. He wouldn't allow anyone to have them, much less look at them. He had to despose of them all! But he knew that the danage was done. A good handful of the Soul Society had seen the pictures. But at least he would prevent the rest from seeing them. Kira tried to save one but got kicked in the face by the young captain.

"… but we're gonna die if we get too close to him right now."

"Yeah."

"Give me that picture, you bastard! I said fork it over you damn sniveling, idiotic, sewage-breathed rat-faced bastard! Give it here!" Hitsugaya had Kira in a headlock and was trying to wrestle a picture of him riding on Renji's back away from him. Hisagi made a desperate grab for one of Hitsugaya sucking his thumb in his sleep and hugging a dragon toy. "Don't you dare, you tattooed freak!" With that he actually bit Hisagi's hand, seeing as how his hands were still strangling Kira.

Ukitake presented Hitsugaya with an armful of candy. "Wonderful to have you back! Cookie? They have chocolate chips in them. Fudge bar? How about… Well, frankly I'm not sure what these are, but they have sprinkles in them!"

Momo grabbed onto Hitsugaya's kimono and tried to pry him off of the two Soul Reapers. "Please, Little Shiro! Stop it! They didn't mean anything by it! I think you look cute, too!"

It was definintly Hell…

~*~*~

Rukia skipped back to Ichigo's house carrying a small collection of pictures in her hand. She opened the door and walked inside. "I got 'em! I only managed to get three, but they're great! I got one of him sleeping, him wearing Kisuke's hat and one of him eating a lollipop! I wish I had gotten more, like the one of him riding on Renji, but hey, beggers can't be choosers."

The house was silent. She looked down. His shoes were still by the door. He must still be home. But this was strange. It was too quiet. Even when they weren't on speaking terms, they were still loud.

"Ichigo? Where are you? If you're still sulking…"

She wondered into the kitchen and looked around. The music box was laying on the floor with a small dent in it. She didn't think she had thrown it that hard. She looked from left to right. No sign of Ichigo anywhere. Then she spotted something under the table. She got down on all fours and looked.

Caged by chair and table legs, was Ichigo. He remained crouched under the table as if hiding from something. Rukia reached forward and grabbed his arm. She pulled him out into the light. He squinted in the brightness and rubbed his eyes.

"What were you doing under there?"

He cocked his head to the side and blinked.

"Well?"

He blinked again. And stuck his thumb in his mouth. "Goo?"

"Oh, no…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well there it is! Hope you liked it!

Poor Ichigo… And poor Rukia! What if Ichigo wants to be picked up and carried around? O_O'

Funny thing is… I'm still not done! XD I wanna do one last chapter in this! Although technically this was the last chapter, I wanted to do a bonus chapter. If people wanna see it, let me know! If no one wants a bonus chapter I won't. But I really, really wanna do it! ^-^

Thanks for reading and please review!


	14. Bonus Chapter: Aftermath

**Bonus Chapter: Aftermath**

Hitsugaya returned to his office feeling even worse than he had when he woke up with a headache this morning. All those pictures… his dignity… gone! Why did that have to happen? What possessed them to take all those pictures and allow half the Soul Society to see them? How could this happen to him? Why did things like this always happen to him? And Momo… She saw all those embarrassing photos. His face turned red just thinking about it.

He sat down in his chair and banged his head on the desk. It hurt like Hell… Never bang your head with a headache. He rubbed his head, ruffling up his white hair. He turned his head to the side and spotted something near his desk. The three sacks from before. Yumichika must have brought them back with him when Renji chased them down before they returned. He growled and kicked them over out of sight. He wanted nothing to do with them.

They hit the floor and opened allowing the contents to spill out onto the floor. One bag contained candy while the other contained toys. But the third held something else. It caught his attention. Two of the objects that fell out was a box of crayons and a sketch pad. Hitsugaya frowned. He didn't draw. Why would he ever use that? He held up another object. It was a small blue blanket. He held it at arm's length and frowned again. He didn't have too much of a problem with the color, but he wasn't too big on the picture. It was a picture of a dragon, which he did like, but it was far too cartoony for his taste. Plus, the clouds behind it were in the shape of hearts. The words 'so cool, I'm hot' were written in big yellow letter across the top of the blanket. His eye twitched and he threw the blacket to the floor. He was in a very bad mood and seeing all these childish things weren't helping to improve it at all.

"Damn them…" he muttered under his breath. "If I was in that state, why didn't they do anything to help me? They could have found me a doctor, but no! They had to take pictures! They had to cuddle! They had to tease! They had to humiliate me!"

He moved back to his seat when he felt his foot hit something hard. He looked down and picked up the object. It was a small box in the shape of a heart. What the Hell was this thing? He turned it over and found a crank. So this thing needed to be wound up, whatever it was. He set it down on the corner of his desk. He was in no mood to experiment with it right now.

At last he had gotten rid of all the humiliating photos those idiots took and made copies of. He couldn't believe some of them. Him cuddling willingly with Rangiku, playing with Renji and Ichigo, playing with his food, sucking his thumb… He did all that? That wasn't like him. Not like him at all. That bump on the head must have knocked all the sense out of him. Really, him doing all that? Ridiculous.

He glanced down at the last remaining photos in his hand. This was the last of them. Once he had gotten rid of these, the ordeal would be over. One of the pictures was of him burying his face in Rangiku's bosom to sleep. That once made him shudder. He _must _have been out of it to do _that_. The next one was of him handing some outfits to the girls as they unpacked their shopping bags. In the picture, it looked as if he had been holding the outfits to his body and modeling them. In another photo he was trying to walk in a pair of high heels Rukia had bought for herself, but he kept falling down in them apparently. His arms were outstretched and was down on one knee, a high heel not too far away. Why he had been trying to walk in them was beyond him, but… Then there was another picture of him sucking his thumb, playing with the toy dragon, another one of him sleeping in Rangiku's arms, thumb sucking, and another, and another…

"For God's sake, we get the point! Sheesh! Just how many times are they going to take the same picture?! One of me sucking my thumb is enough. You don't need more of me doing it in different positions! You've seen one, you've seen them all…" He slammed the pictures down on the desk. He was still fuming mad! At least now it was over. All he had to do was destory the pictures and end his personal Hell on Earth.

His gaze drifted back toward the object on his desk. The one from the third sack of 'goodies' Ukitake gave to him. Why did that capatin treat him like such a child? Constantly giving him these ridiculous things… He picked up the object and turned it over in his hand. There was the krank. Maybe if he turned it something would happen. Hitsugaya started to wined up the strange heart shaped box and set it back down on the desk. Nothing happened. Irritated, he gave it a good hard smack. The box rattled and opened.

Inside were brightly colored orniments mounted on thin metal rods. Three flowers: pink, light blue, and purple. The other was a bee rotating slowly around the flowers. Hitsugaya cocked his head to the side. Well, this was strange. What was this thing? That's when he heard soft music emitting from the box. Soft, gentle music.

"I get it, it's a music box!" Hitsugaya thought aloud. The soft soothing music filled the room, leaving behind a sense of serene calm. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "Honsetly… Only someone like Ukitake would think to give me something like this. I can't think of anything more childish than a music box that plays lullabies…" He glanced down at a baby rattle laying on the floor next to the desk, also a gift from the third sack. "Then again…"

The music continued to play and the bee continued its dance around the painted flowers.

Hitsugaya shook his head. _Ukitake is an idiot… Giving me something like this. It's so stupid. Ha! Lullabies don't work on me at all. They may have worked on me before when I had that alternate personality and all, but certainly not now. Seriously. Me? Falling asleep to lullabies? Hmph! Utterly ridiculous_… He let out a yawn. _Honsestly… Giving me something like this..? What use would I have of it? I don't listen to music. It's a distraction. I certainly never listen to music when I work. Far too distracting… Lullabies. I ask you…_ He let out another yawn. _They have no effect on me whatsoever_…

He watched the bee spin and listened to the music. It seemed to be calming him down. He was so angry before… Now he was feeling strangely relaxed. The bee spun. Hitsugaya watched, letting his mind wonder off as he did.

_Yup. No effect on me whatsoever. None at all. Lullabies don't work at all on me… Not one bit… Not… at… all_… His eyes started to droop. He gave them a rub. That's when he got the feeling that something was wrong. Another yawn escaped him. "Strange… I'm feeling a bit… sleepy…"

He slumped in his seat and made himself more comfortable. Why did he feel so calm and relaxed? Perhaps his rampage on the Soul Society in an attempt to retrieve all the photos took more out of him than he originally thought.

The bee ornament continued its dance, casting its spell over Hitsugaya.

His head started to bob. He let out another yawn, much bigger than the others. He watched the bee spin. He blinked a few times, trying to shake off the heaviness weighting them down. His eyelids fluttered in a futile attempt to stay open.

_Maybe.. if I just rest my head for a… minute_…

Hitsugaya's body fell forward onto the desk. He rested his head in his arms and closed his eyes, still listening to the sound of the music box.

_Lullabies… Really… They have no effect on me… Not at… all_…

Those were his last thoughts as the soothing music carried him away into a world of his own.

~*~*~

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Renji, help me! He won't shut up!"

"But, Rukia! Every time I get near him, he either beats me up flailing around like that or pulls my hair! Just get some duck tape and…"

"It's duct tape and we're not putting it over his mouth, no matter how tempting it is!"

Rukia bounced a sobbing Ichigo as best she could on her lap in a futile atempt to get him to stop crying. He hadn't stopped since Renji came in. Acutally, he started up two minutes after Rukia walked in. Renji arrived five minutes later when he heard screaming on his way back to Kisuke's shop. He hadn't stopped crying since then.

"He won't stop! Do something!"

"What?!"

"Anything!" Renji covered his ears and moved to the other side of the room. "God! I never knew he could cry so much before! The guy must be waterlogged!"

Rukia shushed him again, but Ichigo just screamed even louder in her ear, thick tears running down his face. She patted his back. That didn't work either. She tried to rock him, but it proved to be far too difficult, seeing as how Ichigo was much taller than she was. No matter what she did, Ichigo just kept on crying.

From his behavior, they deduced that he was under the belief that he was a baby. He didn't know how to form words and could no longer remember how to walk. This wasn't good. Most babies who didn't know how to walk or speak, also weren't potty-trianed. They had to snap him out of this fast!

"Please, Ichigo," Rukia pleaded with him. "Come back to yourself! Please, I'm begging you!" He sobbed again, now hiccupping as well. "God, Toshiro was so much cuter…"

"I know! And he knew how to use a toliet, too!" Renji called while stuffing a wad of tissues in his ears. Anything to muffle the racket Ichigo was making.

"Renji, please! I need your help!"

"What to you suggest I do?!"

She looked around and spotted something on the floor by the table. "The music box! If it worked on Hitsugaya, it should work on him, too, right?"

Renji followed her pointed finger to the dented object on the floor. "So you think it'll knock him out, too?"

"It's worth a shot. Bring it here and turn it on."

Renji did as he was told and opened the music box inches from Ichigo's head so he could hear it over his own screams. He sniffled and looked at the music box. Then with another cry, he batted it out of his hand where it crashed to the floor.

"Hey! Little brat!"

"WAAAAAAAAAHH!"

"Renji, don't yell at him!"

"But he-"

"You made him cry!"

"He was already crying!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Ichigo sobbed again and pulled on Rukia's shirt. When Renji came to help her out, Ichigo instead latched on to his red hair and refused to let go. Renji managed to pry his head free from Ichigo's grasp and backed up, out of reach.

"I can't take it anymore! I've gotta get back to Urahara's shop. We can take him with us."

"But he told us that he couldn't do anything about Hitsugaya's contition. What makes you think that he can do something about Ichigo?"

"Well, if he can't cure him, maybe he can find a way to shut him up!

That's just what they did. Unable to walk on his own, Ichigo was carried piggyback style on Renji's back down the street. He was a sight to be seen as he was carried screaming and sobbing through the streets all the way to Kisuke's shop. Rukia rushed ahead, unable to take the awkward stares of the public any longer. She reached the shop first and entered as quickly as she could.

"Kisuke! Kisuke, are you here? We need to speak with you."

She heard groaning coming from behind the counter.

"Kisuke?"

"Ugh..! Stop shoutin'! I hear ya!" Kisuke appeared from behind the counter, hat slightly askew.

"What were you doing back there?" she asked.

"Takin' a nap." He ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his hat. "I sorta fell asleep. It hasn't been very busy lately."

'_Lately'? _she wondered to herself. "We need your help with something."

He groaned again and got to his feet. "Well, seeing as how I'm so refreshed after that five-minute nap… What's the problem now? Toshiro staying here?"

"Oh, no. No. He's recovered and went back to the Soul Society."

"Then what's the problem?"

Renji came bursting through the door with a hysterical Ichigo on his back.

"That."

Renji closed the door and dropped Ichigo on the wooden floor. Landing on the hard floor only made him cry even harder, if such a thing was possible.

"Renji! Don't drop him!"

"What?"

Kisuke stared at Ichigo for several moments and then back to Rukia. "So… What seems to be the problem here?"

"As if you didn't know!" Renji growled. "Ichigo got hit in the head by Rukia-"

"Hey!"

"Well, you did!"

"But I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"

"You threw the thing at his head!"

"I thought he'd catch it!"

"Yeah, he did! He caught it in the head!"

"So now what?" Kisuke interrupted.

"So now he thinks he's a baby."

"Like Hitsugaya?"

"Well… No. He thought he was a toddler. Ichigo thinks he's a baby."

"And he won't shut up!" Renji added. "We were hoping you could do something about it."

"Like what?"

"I dunno! Just calm him down somehow!"

Kisuke knelt beside the hysterical Ichigo and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He took Ichigo's jaw in hand and turned his head this way and that. ""Hmm. Mm-hmm… Hmm… Ah! I think I have an idea."

He went to the back room and they could hear him shuffling things around. They could hear the sound of boxes being torn open and the clattering of dishes. Then the sound of something being ground up. Kisuke returned and picked up a box of sugar-free lollipops from a rack and motioned for the others to follow. They picked up Ichigo and dragged him into the back room. Kisuke was sitting by a small table surrounded by empty boxes and plastic jars. A single pot sat in the middle of the table.

"Set him down there," Kisuke told them as he opened the box of lollipops. The unwrapped the package and took out a single lollipop and dipped it in the pot. He stirred the pot with it occasionally and let the lollipop sit in the strange colored liquid.

Ichigo wailed again. "Is this going to take long?!" Renji barked.

"No. Almost done." Kisuke removed the lollipop and held it in front of Ichigo. "That should've soaked up nicely… Ok, Ichigo. Open wide."

Ichigo sobbed again and Kisuke took that opportunity to pop it in his mouth. Ichigo coughed and choked slightly on the lollipop. He sniffled and looked back at Kisuke.

"Mmm..! Good, huh? You like that don'tcha?"

Ichigo sucked on the lollipop greedily while Kisuke held on to the stick, just in case he sucked too hard and it slid down his throat. Slowly, Ichigo's eyes started to droop. He yawned and wrapped his lips around the tasty treat again. After several moments, Ichigo's eyes finally drifted closed.

Once, sure Ichigo was completely calm, Kisuke gently pulled the lollipop from his mouth. "There we go. All better!"

Ichigo's body went completely limp and slumped against Renji's leg. "Dude, what did you do to him?"

"Ah, nothing. You wanted him calm, right? So that's what I did."

Rukia looked back at the pot on the table. "Yeah, but… What exactly was in that thing? What sort of potion was that?"

"No potion. It's just a little something I whipped up just now."

"Which was..?"

Kisuke shrugged. "Ah, nothing much. Just a little muscle relaxant, a few sedatives… and a mixture of different sleeping pills and tranquilizers. Nothing special."

"You did WHAT?!" Rukia grabbed Kisuke's shirt and shook him. "You idiot! How could you do something like that?"

"Well, first you get a pot. Then you grind up the pills and-"

"That's not what I meant! I meant how could you?! What if he got an overdose? That's dangerous, you fool!"

"Relax! I know what I'm doing. I'm an expert after all."

"Sometimes I wonder…"

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing. He'll be out for a couple of hours. That's all. He didn't get that much in his system. It was just the amount that lollipop managed to soak up was all. It wasn't that much, but it was powerful. Don't worry about it. He'll be fine."

After hidding out at Kisuke's shop for a few hours, Rukia and Renji decided to return Ichigo to his house. As long as he was still asleep, they could hide the truth about what really happened to him from his family. Hopfully his family wasn't home just yet from their father-daughter's trip just yet.

"You know, we could have just left him at the shop, Renji. No matter what Kisuke said."

"Oh, no!" Renji folded his arms. "Remember, I still work there. I'm not having that over-sized rugrat crawling around the shop touching everything he can get his hands on! Forget it! No way!"

Rukia shushed him and pointed to Ichigo on his back. Renji turned his head as far as it would go to look. Ichigo was begaining to stir. But stubborn about his sleep, he merely rubbed his face against Renji's back and went back to sleep.

That was rather cute, but certainly not as cute as Hitsugaya. He was just precious. An absolute darling. Ichigo… not so much. Hitsugaya could pull it off, seeing as how he was already so short and young looking. Ichigo on the other hand… Well, he just looked plain weird.

They tip-toed back to Ichigo's house and opened the door as carfully as possible.

"Alright, Renji," Rukia whispered so as not to wake Ichigo. "Take him up to his room and we'll figure things out from there."

"Right." Two steps in, and Renji found that he was under attack by some strange man rushing towards him at top speed.

"THERE YOU ARE, MY DEAR SON!!!"

Renji had absolutely no time to get out of the way as Ichigo's father tore down the hall and tackled him. He was slammed into the wall while Ichigo was picked up and elbowed in the head.

"Some son, you are! Look alive, boy! Is this any way to greet your old man when he comes home!"

"But, daddy…" Yuzu said timidly. Something didn't look right about her big brother.

Her father hit him in the head again and Ichigo's eyes snapped open. He snarled and punched his father back. "What the HEEL is your problem, dad?!" He held his head in his hands. "OW! Ack! My head is killing me! What'd you do that for?!" Ichigo was in a terrible mood thanks to all those drugs and his very rude awakening. He and his father immediately went at it, while Rukia and Renji stood off to the side.

"… I guess he's ok."

"… Yeah. Guess so…"

"He just needed another hit in the head was all..."

~*~*~

"Captain!" Rangiku entered her captain's office bubbling with giddiness. "You'll never believe what I heard from Rukia. It seems that Ichigo… Captain?"

There was no answer.

"Captain?"She moved around to the other side of the desk, stepping over sacks of spilled goodies in the process. What she saw made her coo out loud. "Aw, Captain..!"

Hidden behind the tall stacks of papers was Hitsugaya, fast asleep on the desk, resting his head in his arms. He was snoring softly, a thin trickle of drool dripping down his chin and forming a small puddle on the desk. The music box from Ukitake sat opened and silent inches from his head, its song finally over.

"How cute..!" she whispered and cupped her hands under her chin. He was so adorable. He always looked so peaceful when he was sleeping soundly. He just looked so at ease. Deciding that her news could wait, she picked up the small blanket off the floor and draped it over his shoulders. He shifted once the fabric touched his body. Rangiku froze, hoping that he wouldn't awaken and see her. He didn't. He merely yawned and snuggled into his arms, loving the warmth of the blanket upon his body.

She started to walk away when she spotted something on the desk by his hand. The last few photograph that remained undamaged… for now. She quickly snatched them up and tucked them down her kimono. There was no way, she'd let them get torn up like all the others or bruned.

Giving Hitsugaya a quick pat on the head, she quietly tip-toed out of the office to let him sleep. But on her way out, she also snatched up the music box on his desk and tucked it away. It may come in handy one day...

She smiled to herself and litterally skipped down the hall. What was there not to be happy about? She got to see Hitsugaya as a toddler, saw him asleep at his desk, had the music box that could put him to sleep in her possession and managed to save the last few pictures of the events that went on for the past three days.

To her, this was a huge accomplishment. She only wished it had lasted a bit longer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thanks to everyone for reading and for all the nice reviews! ^-^

Thanks to **fullmetalgirl65** for telling me this was a good idea!

And by the way, the song that Ichigo sang to Hitsugaya was called, 'Dreamy Moonlit Night'. Sorry I didn't mention that before…

Story ended! Please review and tell me how I did!

Peace out! XD


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